At one point in the second act of Massenet’s Werther, the heroine’s sister Sophie tells the eponymous hero, sung by Jonas Kaufmann, widely acclaimed as the greatest tenor of our time: “it’s you everyone wants to see”. And so they do: we were all there to see and hear Kaufmann take the role of the lovesick, melancholy poet.
The singer, alas, has had vocal problems for some years now, and they have clearly not gone away. By the end of the second act many were wondering aloud whether they would ever again hear the German tenor as he was in his prime. In those first two acts he managed little more than the half-voice croon that has become familiar in recent years. With Werther’s rival, Albert – Gordon Bintner in fine voice – and the role of his lover Charlotte taken by Aigul Akhmetshina – a former Jette Parker singer of enormous potential – Kaufmann was in danger of being eclipsed.
Charles Edwards’ angled wall and door for Act I lack aesthetic appeal – the excessively noisy fountain may not have been his fault – and the simple balustrade, set at the opposite diagonal, of Act II is only marginally more inspiring, though it does reveal more of the blue sky and clouds. The opera opens in summer and by Act 3 it’s Christmas Eve. But a pall of gloom also now descends on the action – Charlotte, now married to Albert, had rashly suggested that Werther might return at Christmastime – and Edwards responds with a magnificently oppressive drawing room in the style of the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershoi, all muted greens and browns.
The music acquires greater depth here too with darker sonorities and throbbing passions both realised superbly by Antonio Pappano. Given the latter’s renowned sensitivity to singers, one can only assume that it was by arrangement that no quarter was given Kaufmann.
A saxophone solo enhances the poignancy of Charlotte’s tearful Air des Larmes, sung, as was the whole of this multi-part scena, with winning eloquence by Akhmetshina, establishing her as the star of the act, indeed the show. Kaufmann, to be fair, produced flashes of his customary brilliance, but was doubtless relieved to be able to return to a half-voice appropriate for the dying hero in the final act. Sarah Gilford raised the spirits whenever she appeared as Sophie and Alastair Miles was an animated Bailli.
Benoit Jacquot’s 2004 production seemed more inert than ever. Perhaps there was little the revival director, Genevieve Dufour, could do with Kaufmann needing to park himself downstage centre whenever possible. He has considerable stage presence but his acting has always needed strong direction, evidently not a priority on this occasion. As a result, instead of adopting the moody, poetic poses of Goethe’s character he looked hunched and stiff.
From September 2024 Kaufmann, nearly 54, takes over as artistic director of the Erl Festival in Austria. His other plans, we are told, include the lead tenor roles in Otello and Turandot. With a heavy heart one has to say that, barring a miracle, it’s not going to happen.
Royal Opera House, to July 4; roh.org.uk
