Compulsively Being Werther

Even though it revolves around a love triangle, Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther would not have appealed to Verdi because of its lack of a higher moral or sociopolitical conflict. But for Jules Massenet, making a stage work of such a personal, barely dramatic dilemma was just his musical meat. Massenet's Werther, heard and seen Sunday afternoon at San Jose's California Theatre, gives Opera San José a new high-water mark. At the time of Werther's premiere in Vienna in 1892, Siegmund Freud was practicing neurology and experimenting with hypnosis. His "talking cure," as psychotherapy came to be known, still lay in the future. But as early as 1836, Georg Büchner's unfinished and posthumously published Woyzeck had already chronicled the disintegration of a personality. In 1925, Alban Berg witnessed the premiere of his opera based on Woyzeck and composed in a style that became the musical equivalent of expressionism in art. By then, of course, the Age of Enlightenment had long since devolved into the obscure but driving forces of the human mind. The hero of Massenet's opera needs to appear to enjoy normal health, while his compulsive obsession toward its object, Charlotte, drags him inexorably into what today would likely be considered extreme depression leading to suicide. Nothing else — no magic love potions or deus ex machina patriotism — can explain them away.

Photo by Pat Kirk

For Opera San José, tenor Christopher Bengochea became Werther in every meaningful sense. This young man has made remarkable strides as a principal of the resident company. His presence and acting ability have vastly improved; his refined movements, reactions, and facial expressions show how effective the OSJ program can be when a talented singer learns stagecraft. Not only did he sustain a credible characterization, but he also delivered the all-important vocal product to match, with urgency, flexibility, and expressive range. Bengochea proved the dominating force in this cast — one of two — appearing in this new production. Of the best-known tenor arias in the opera, his O, Nature, pleine de grace (Oh nature, full of grace) of Act 1, shimmered just as his Pourquoi me réveiller? (Why do you awaken me?) of Act 3 palpably grieved.

French Lyricism on Display

French opera follows traditions rooted in the Renaissance and seasoned through Baroque and Classical developments, but always refracted by French lights. The lyrical voice ideal for French 19th-century repertoire is light and clear. Bengochea comes to that style naturally, and adds Italianate heft (and ping) as needed. Visiting artist Tihana Herceg is making her first OSJ appearance as Charlotte, one of many French opera heroines that cast a mezzo-soprano as prima donna. Charlotte, as a character, is modest and domestic, and becomes otherwise only after Werther simultaneously arouses her love and provokes her conflicted emotions. Herceg's singing was robust, colorful, and emotional, compelling in the passionate scenes but not so seemly in her domestic moments. As a foil to her was Jillian Boye as younger sister Sophie, whose bright soprano has been heard in three previous OSJ productions. She played the coquette in duets with the men, and proved attentively sympathetic in intimate moments with her distraught sister. Kenneth Mattice sang Albert, Charlotte's husband, as effectively as the minor role allows. Silas Elash as Charlotte's father set a strong tone in the opening scenes. Other minor characters were taken by Andrew Park, Lantz Warrick, Nicholas Patton, and Tory Grayum. The youthful chorus members, Charlotte's siblings, were clear and obviously well-coached. Olivia Stapp's stage direction has much to do with the success of the performance, not least the acting by the principals. Giulio Cesare Perrone's spare set design made much of a papier-mâché forest of tree trunks surrounding the staging area, with drops to provide house and church facades (the latter sporting a colorful "rose" window), while Kent Dorsey's lighting painted the changing moods, especially those of the increasingly despairing Werther, as the performance progressed. Massenet's score not only is beautifully composed and orchestrated, but, as anyone will recognize, has also served as a style template for countless movie and television scores. The orchestra under David Rohrbaugh sounded rich, even lush, and responded smartly as he paced the singers on stage. The interlude connecting Acts 3 and 4 was nothing less than a tone poem that reiterated the personal tragedy of Werther.