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With the fishing rod at the Opera. With the fishing rod at the Vienna Opera. [ Author Michael Daniel Watson ] [ From category THE Articles ] [ Subcategory OperaRail 2015 ] [ Subcategory II Angela Gheorghiu ] [ Translator Catalina Popescu ] [ Article date: 2015-05-10 ] [ From city Viena ] [ Country Austria ]   Vienna. Wien (read "Vin"). Wieden. Beha (read "Vena"). Wienen. Beč (read "Bechi"). Staatsoper. The State Opera. Fishing around the date of 13. Date: the 13th, month - root of 13. Seat: row 13, seat 13 on 2. Friday, the 13th. Bad luck, a looooot of bad luck was in the air, it seemed I wouldn’t catch anything, not even a perch, or a lady fish :-) I was to Vienna (State Opera) to see Angela Gheorghiu again. And it’s the first time when I see her... the second time in the same opera house. After one year and one day. The March show was, like last year, a first night for me. Or at least so I thought. :D But, the same like then, an average quality one. I know, some critics or opera addicts will come and grumble how I dare to say something like this about these operas, but both "Adriana Lecouvreur" (that I saw last year in Vienna), and this "Werther" seem to me, in my spectator perception, averagely attractive. Angela, but also Werther’s interpreter, Jean-Francois Borras, did the maximum with the opera, but the idea that Ayrton Senna is driving fervidly a turbo tuned Dacia 1300 remains hilarious. Moreover, I saw the show with a Romanian friend who was at an opera for the first time and he told me he didn’t think he would come a second time! I insisted on going the second day at "Tosca", and then his perspective changed with 180 degrees. And what is the most interesting is that, checking the folder where I note the shows I’ve seen, I discovered... I had seen this opera before! In Bucharest, 13 years ago. :-) It so much appealed to me, that I don’t even remembered I’d seen it, not to mention the fact that I was telling everybody that now I would see it for the first time. :-) ) ) "Werther", as I said, is a pleasant opera and that’s all. It had its first night in 1892 in Vienna, at Staatsoper, too, called Hofoper at that time. And it wasn’t sung in French, but in German. :D The author, Jules Massenet, is famous first of all for the "Manon" opera, later outdid by Puccini with "Manon Lescaut", and also with "Werther". Mr Massenet was admitted to the Conservatory when he was 11, and after he became a professor there, he had George Enescu as a student. Before each show, the Vienna State Opera (and the other one, VolksOper, too) puts on sale tickets for standing places at 3-4 euros. The only problem is that they are not unlimited and you have to come two or three hours earlier to catch them. I saw the phenomenon myself; people with beds and chairs sit in a queue in front of the booking office and wait. They stay, chat, eat, drink, sleep, and make love... Oh, no, the latter, no. :-) Or at least I wasn’t there at the right time! :D There, in line, I started talking with an Austrian who had been in Romania, so I asked him what Romanian words he knew. "Buna dimineata! " and... "Tu estí o fata frumoasa! " :-) (“Good morning! " and “You are a beautiful woman! ") An Austrian started talking to me (trying to sell me a ticket) and, finding out I am Romanian, he told me "Buna dimineata! La revedere! Ce faci? Multumesc! " :-) (“Good morning! Good bye! How are you? Thank you! ") And, also related to the Romanian subject, let me mention that the director of this opera was Andrei Serban! Instead of curtain, a canvas, and on it trees rustling slowly, projected as if looking skywards from the ground. The scenery is simple, but powerful: a huge tree with a 3-4 metre thick trunk, three branches, thick too, a lot of green leaves and a ladder visible from the front side and that was going all the way up to the “first floor" of the tree, “arranged" as a balcony. Later I discovered two more ladders at the back of the tree. To the left there was a swing, a table and three garden chairs in the middle. A few children are singing about the coming of Christmas, and an older guy is conducting. They are dressed modernly, but not extravagantly. The children leave. From the back come two young men, one of whom has a bicycle. When they reach the centre of the stage, they greet each other, and the “motorized" one jumps on the saddle, Pedals and goes back! I wish I rode my bike, too, on the scene of the Vienna Opera! :-) ) ) The other one, Werther, an almost stout guy, with black hair, starts to sing his love for Charlotte. Up, in the tree, Charlotte herself appears (Angela Gheorghiu), secretly listening to him, enchanted and giggling softly. She has a white-cream-colored dress with small flowers, below the knees, gloves and white shoes. Werther is in black suit and white shirt, and Albert is dressed similarly, but in brown. The music is a little slow and lasts looong, with no “sparks", inviting to sleep. :D "Vous etez la meilleur et la plus belle! " - "You are the best and the most beautiful! ", "Das himmlische lächeln" - "Your divine smile", Werther tells Charlotte. She seems to feel the same, everything seems to be a trivial happy ending story, when, ups!, she remembers she had promised Albert to marry him! Suddenly, instantly, pell-mell, at once and out of the blue! :D No, I wouldn’t want to ironical (well, I’m lying, I do want! :D), but how to forget such a thing? :-) ) ) But Werther is serious and says that he is going to kill himself if she marries another. The singing is in French and there is an English translation (and German, of course), so I am a little sorry for knowing the subject, then I comfort myself with the thought that I also know the subject of other operas and this doesn’t stop me from enjoying them. The second act, in the center the same huge tree, but its leaves have an autumnal yellow-rusty colour. Around, some tables and garden or park chairs. Charlotte kept her promise and married Albert. It seems that the girl wasn’t in the election campaign when she’d made her promise - this is how her forgetfulness looked... B-) She is wearing a grey costume, red gloves and a red chic bonnet. Werther is still in love with her and still hopes. "C`est moi qu`elle aime! " - "Sie mußmich lieben! " - "It’s me who she loves! " When they see each other again, Charlotte and Werther are aroused. "Heureux? " - "Glücklich? " - "Happy? " "Je suis ça famme! " - "Ich bin seine Frau" - "I am his wife! " Werther suffers. "Il aime elle encore! " - "Er liebt siel! " - "He still loves her! " Albert, appeared a little later, realizes that the two of them still have feelings for each other. The tree is leafless at the beginning of the third act, with only the empty branches alone in the winter. To the right, like in a corner, there is a Christmas tree under which there are some present boxes. The old furniture, an armchair, a long sofa, a black and ‘60s style white wooden TV set which is on and which Charlotte watches from time to time. She is suffering, and her black dress creates a visual image of her feelings. "Tristesse" - "Trauer" - "Sadness". "Je suis seulle" - "Ich bin allein" - "I am alone". Charlotte is reading the letters received from Werther. Finally, a better aria for Angela Gheorghiu, rewarded with applauses at the end of it. The music is livelier, more pleasant, starting to “go in". Werther shows up. Charlotte is aroused, then she recovers and mans herself. He is trying to attract her on his side, compliments her - although the translation, "Frühlingshauch", "spring breeze", sounded like a compliment, but in French and in Romanian. :-) Finally, Werther, too, has a nice aria, also rewarded with applauses. "Je suis ici! " - "Ich bin hier! " - "I am here! " "Je t`aime! " - "Ich liebe dich! " - "I love you! " He tries to kiss her, she rejects him, he tells her "Adieu! " - "Lass es sein! " and leaves. Albert shows up. He sees Werther’s coat that he had forgotten on the bed. Nachricht von Werther - Message from Werther. He asks Albert to borrow him a gun. Albert gives Charlotte the gun and she hands it out to the messenger. Charlotte is on the bed. Albert approaches, seems to be hugging her, but he takes Werther’s coat, that was lying close to her, tosses it towards her and leaves. Charlotte gets up - "Yes, God, to be on time! ", and leaves in a hurry! The fourth act begins with a violent rain presented slightly rudimentary on the transparent canvas-curtain. The canvas rises, the dry tree and Werther can be seen, Werther hurt and lying on a bed. "Das ist scherlick! " - "C`est terrible! " Charlotte comes, he speaks weakly, "Pardonez moi! " - "Verzeih mir! " - "Forgive me! " She replies that the fault is hers. From the back comes Albert, silently looking at him. "Ich bin glücklich! Ich liebe dich! " - "I am happy! I love you! " "Und ich auch! " - "Me too! " Then her, too: "At least I am going to return your kiss! " She kisses him, he comes to life, rises above her and, right when I was thinking he was exaggerating with this strength :-), he falls beside him. The children can be heard singing "Noel! Noeel! ", the Christmas carols. He is impressed and... gets up! She helps him, but he collapses. "Zwei grosse linden" - asks him to bury him under two thick lime trees. He dies. The children sing "Noel! Noeel! " During almost the entire show I thought whether to do it or not. It’s not that I hadn’t done it before, I know how, it’s only that now I had an extension with me. To amplify the satisfaction, of course. And, closer the end of the show was, the more my emotions were growing. I encouraged myself saying “Come on, you can do it! ", “You didn’t carry the extension cord with you for 20 hours to Vienna for nothing?! ", "She wants it, you know she wants it, you can’t disappoint her! ", so I started to get ready. I took out the extension cord, I assembled it - a seat attendant saw it and grabbed it, moment when I thought I would miss the end. But I continued my work and I finished it. On the newly assembled fishing rod I put the Romanian flag and started to wave it in the hall of the Vienna Opera House, at about 4 metres high! :-) Angela saw it, first stared at it, then reached out towards the flag as she did at München in 2012 and, like then, too, she was very, very happy, which, of course, delighted me a lot. A goddess’s satisfaction is priceless! :-) Distribution Charlotte: Angela Gheorghiu Werther: Jean-Francois Borras Albert: Ludovic Tézier Director: Andrei Serban Conductor: Frédéric Chaslin

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