Massent: Werther (Zurich 2017, Directed by: Tatjana Gürbaca

Forbidden love, misdeeds and torment: With Jules Massenet’s opera Werther, a loose adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, the Zurich Opera House ventures into the French Romanticism of the late 19th century. The opera, here under the musical direction of Cornelius Meister, the designated chief conductor in Stuttgart, tells the story of the desperate love between the poet Werther and the young woman Charlotte, who is promised, however, to a wealthy businessman. In Massenet’s score, Goethe’s drama is reflected in emotionally expansive vocal parts. Juan Diego Flórez, unquestionably one of the finest bel canto tenors of our time, portrays a tormented and nuanced Werther. “This is no ordinary vocal performance—it is an epiphany!”, enthused the Neue Zürcher Zeitung in a glowing review. At Flórez’s side, the French-British mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany made her role debut as Charlotte. Tatjana Gürbaca’s production, set entirely in a single room, deftly brings home the social stranglehold of oppression: Should one enter this room or flee from it?