Resurrection through music, for ever.

What was created, must pass away
what passed away, must rise!
Cease to tremble! Prepare yourself!
Prepare yourself to live!
These lines were written by Mahler for his second symphony 'Resurrection'.
My only experience of this extraordinary work is at the Proms in 1990.
It was in July, time of the annual longer break.
I used to book a few performances to explore the music I liked under great conductors and prestigious orchestras. I did not have the opportunity to do so during the rest of the year.
That friday night, I understood the real power of music.
Margaret Price was singing.

Friday 20 July 1990, 7:30PM

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C minor 'Resurrection'


Margaret Price soprano
Anne Sofie von Otter mezzo-soprano
BBC Symphony Orchestra
London Philharmonic Choir
BBC Symphony Chorus (pre-1932, National Chorus; 1933-4, BBC Chorus; 1935-77, BBC Choral Society)
Andrew Davis conductor

Since then I have never tried to attend the second at a concert hall.
It is the unique utterly intense musical, perhaps mystical, experience of my life.
She was a year or so older than me. She was a marvellous Welsh singer who loved golden retrievers.

News from Aix and the Festival.

The Festival.
Booking is available today.
Six packages (three operas in each) are on sale.
Le Nez is by far the most attracive production.
Natalie Dessay will sing Traviata for the first time in France. It is real luck to have her in Aix in july!
Taking a stroll through the Cathedral streets, I noticed repairs were done at the Archevêché. They are getting ready for this Summer!
In the Cathedral,the Altar piece was being lifted to its new vault. It did not look easy.

The best of Werther in 3'44 from Opéra de Lyon!

I loved this swift explosion of happiness, the white banner, the children running through the stage, the flowers popping out, and above all, all that in music! I said 'paper flowers' in my previous post, but they are decorative (perhaps) silk flowers. It is great to find this selection of some key musical passages. Sophie is really vocally and physically just what you dream of in this role. (Anne Catherine Gillet).
The anti- climax is in the music, and this new setting makes this bleak drama more attractive without any distortion of what is inside. Karine Deshayes's rich and vibrant vocal colours express intense remorse and torments. Arturo Chacon Cruz is also very involved and passionate. They are separated, the long agony is therefore more credible. He is saying all that in his letters, and she has not joined him yet.
The short sentence sung in one voice 'Oublions tout'is a striking musical peaceful breath.
So they did unite through music after all!
It is here heartbreaking:
The simple gestures, so simple and moving, they did facing each other while singing, will never be forgotten.

All these details make the show unique and full of meanings.
I forgot how much I resented the characters of Charlotte and Albert during this new Werther.
The two clowns( Schmidt and Johann) now appear to be a critical vision of the society. But I have not a clear idea what the couple of mimes actually did and what they meant.
When le bailli locks the white clown in the cage while singing 'Klopstock', le divin Klopstock'' cela me paraît l'extase magnétique',
I need a clue to get the meaning of this gesture. Klopstock is a poet, lyrical poet. Werther is a poet too. That's it!
Could I make it a second time to Lyon to see what I missed ?

Who said Massenet's music was too sugary and too attractive to women?

Colourful, poetic and surprising Werther at lyon operahouse..

The opening night of Werther started for me at 6pm with France Musique, "le magazine en direct" from the amphitheatre. I was glad to at last be able to see a journalist I have been listening to for years on the radio, Lionel Esparza, and it was also a pleasure to have that kind of friendly talk before the opening night of Werther.

His guests were of course Serge Dorny, the director of the Lyon Opera house and the artists of the cast, together with the much-awaited new stage director Rolando Villazón. It was a great pleasure to see them so generously sharing their thoughts about all the work they had been doing for this opening night, all of them praising (when Rolando Villazón was not present yet) the qualities of their stage director.

A. C. Gillet (Young Sophie in the opera) pointed out that it was marvelous for them to be coached by a singer who really cares for musicality and singing and made a point of having the singers always sing at the front of the stage, facing the audience (while in motion) .
And that was confirmed later during the show, they all sang beautifully from the front of the stage. A miracle!
The Magazine can be attended at the site France Musique, There are lots of photos, including where I can see myself, from the back and facing Rolando Villazon. (I could not help laughing when he exclaimed 'tequila' lifting the glass in front of him, and later on pulling his tongue out as you can see!)
Charlotte - Karine Deshayes, and Werther - Arturo Chacon- Cruz, did not come to this friendly discussion, and I can understand why: It was the first role of Charlotte for Karine Deshayes, and for the Mexican tenor Arturo Chacom Cruz, it was his first appearance in France. So they were certainly concentrating before coming on stage. As it was, Charlotte was the first to appear on stage at the curtain raise while the ouverture was being played, she had a long Harlequin like dress, went to a black gown lying at the middle front stage and stroke it.

A strange setting, almost like a fairy tale:
A poetical atmosphere (balloons, paper flowers, lovely children, clowns and colourful costumes and make-up) which worked well at the beginning.
It was a strange discovery of the elements of the staging: from a golden yellow gown hanging from the clock, almost like a coat-hanger, to the tree, the steel skeleton of a huge lime tree, with beautiful curves and shiny plastic leaves of a very pale green which will turn white lately with unhappiness. The lights participate in the general musical and psychological atmosphere of this very sad tale. Two of the characters were clowns throughout the opera, Schmidt and Johann, but they sang their parts. The other real couple of clowns puzzled me and I did not feel that they added any sense to the 'subjectivity'

This is part of what Rolando Villazon wants to make visible for all : the subjectivity of the musical language, through symbols. But I do not really know if all these parallel stories are useful with what the music tells from the inside, striking our subjectivity, after all, we have our own patterns of recognition. Is it useful to always try to make sense with another language, here miming?
Miming has its codes and stands by itself.

I can compare this kind of never empty stage with clowns taking part in the drama to Achim Freyer's Eugene Onegin.
But here it is not the whole cast which is transformed into miming masked characters like in Eugene Onegin, only the couple of clowns are miming.
The main characters seem to be transformed when they put on coloured gowns, with three striking colours for fairly obvious symbols, black for death and duty, golden yellow for creativity, youth, joy and warmth like sunshine, red for love and pain: Werther's scarf becoming the love tie, a bond like a rope where they never manage to pull the ends to get nearer to each other and join. It becomes blood in Charlotte's hand, the blood shed by Werther and she is horrifed and throws the scarf away. Does this gesture imply she has blood on her hands too? then at last her red coat.
As for Werther, he has his double, his ghost, a young boy like a prince in a shiny golden, bright yellow long suit,(he reminds me of Le petit Prince, the same waistcoat) who will accompany him? He will even strangle the young ghost standing in front of him (I felt awful...when I saw this gesture) when he took his decision to quit. Charlotte can see Werther's ghost and even strikes it. Is it the infant soul which we always keep ? Has Charlotte only maternal feelings towards Werther? His long red scarf passes on to Charlotte. He will end in a simple black shirt and trousers, writing his last words leaning against the clock. All the furniture elements are white and with the appearance of wire or thin bars. The cushions are red. The laces are red.

A strange vision of the characters:
The two sisters appeared in a lovely kind of ballerina white short dresses and according to the words and music put on the black or yellow long gowns over their lovely light dresses. Does that mean that we all are children at heart and only wear our roles according to life and duty as we grow?
Sophie - A. C Gillet (she told us at "the Magazine" that she has played this role five times already, and she is marvellously light and dancing through her aria 'Je suis comme un oiseau') puts on the black gown with a sort of repulsive grin when her sister goes to the ball.. although she tells Charlotte she will replace her with pleasure... the dead Mother's ghost is here from the very start with this black gown...And the bright red gown is Charlotte' s last attire.

Albert is not so bad after all according to this vision:
I have probably said a lot against this baritone character, even in Goethe's Letters.
Albert (like Charlotte's father) never wears an overall either back or yellow. He wears plain clothes of the late century, greyish and black shades.
Does it mean he has no dual personality? No alternative thoughts ? A one-track mind in all circumstances?

Here, he looks a bit more jolly, less pompous.
When he comes back after the tragic orchestral thunderstorm, the cage had collapsed, underlined by a blue neon light; in act III he does not call Charlotte twice, and almost calls her with apprehension, softer tones, not with the authority I have always resented previously. He gives the pistols to the servant himself. Charlotte takes them out of the case (it will be transformed into a coffin at the end), hands them over to her husband, then he gave them to the servant, who here is the clown Schmidt. Schmidt seems to mean more than a drunkard jolly fellow. He implies the comforting thoughts of this religious community, who hates disturbances and changes as long as they can carry on living as they have always done.
Why is he a clown? But why should he pass the pistols to Werther?

Together with Johann they make a silly pair, with even a clown's joke, the smoke effect which reveals the sort of people they both are...
These two artists, J-P Fouchécourt and Nabil Suliman, gave a rather striking vision of what is conformism from a male point of view: drinks, and vulgar jokes, both had these vocal abilities and knowledge of such roles, on the comic fringe. It is very often rather average vocally, and in this production they gave a new life to their scores, with trumpets and fun-fair accents more noticeable than usual.

Is it necessary to have Charlotte pointed at by the community and at last by her sister who loves Werther? Or is it her vision of herself being externalized?
Karine Dehayes acted beautifully and sang with her heart. I rejoiced at every bit of her singing.
So did I at Arturo Chacon-Cruz 's sunny voice, rather easy tops, less exhuberant than Rolando Villazon in the same role. He gave a fine rendition not disturbed by the miming double language and his young ghost following him.

Now the cage!
For loving birds, either one imprisoned inside, but never two in the cage; love cannot be shared here.
Karine starts reading Werther's letters, act III, in the cage, then goes out and with her arms makes the gesture of hanging herself at the cage bars. This is quite a strong message.
And her singing was even more moving at that point.
Then the exit of the white grand piano, which is carried looking like a huge coffin followed by the funeral crowd of this bourgeois community of Wetzlar. Is it the funeral which Werther knows he will not get having committed suicide? Which character fancies this with the music which does sound like a funeral march?

Act I full setting
Côté jardin
the big bird-cage, then the table, red mats piled in a big laced cylindar looking like a drum, the grand piano, the clock right at the end côté cour.
Cheerful atmosphere.
Children singing and playing. Lots of colours. Balloons.
Magical tour!

The white banner and the paper flowers! Tea around the table. The red cushions being thrown at each child.
The paper flowers and the children, what a splendid rush with the music!

Act II
Same elements.
The table goes in the cage.
And the space is transformed on the ground like a church nave, the red cushions forming the seats. And pillars appear.
The community celebrates the vicar and his wife anniversary.
The little Prince in golden yellow suit sleeps under the table in the cage.


Act III
A rectangular box sticks out at the front of the stage right in the middle.
Collapse of the cage.
Exit of the grand piano transformed into a long coffin.
The light goes blank.
The tree leaves turn white.
Act IV
Dreadful pillars or prison bars golden and red appear. I did not count them. The whole stage is barred.
The clock works according to the last gasps of Werther's life.
They are separated through the whole scene until the very end.
He pulls the trigger to his temple several times.
She sings to his golden gown.
He is writing, and singing his last letter with his will. Beautiful aria.
I do not remember now what happened to the red scarf, has she put it round her neck?
The clock goes on.
she put the scarf in the rectangular box -coffin, or else I thought she did it?
She sang like a cello. She was extremely intense and so rich in her medium , with heartbreaking outburst where it would be great to burst into tears. This Charlotte has gone further in the role, more than Werther did.

France Musique will broadcast the opera on this site, but the date is not known yet.
http://sites.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/em/soirees_lyriques/avenir.php?e_id=26
It was a rather unusual evening where the orchestra and the singers gave a real beautiful rendition which I am hoping to listen to on the radio soon.
As I was sitting behind Mister Serge Dorny, and as a group of young people working at the opera house where literally running out any time they spotted someone taking a photo, I did not dare chancing it, and I was also too intrigued by what was going on on the stage to think of bothering with the camera.

The colours of the costumes in this Werther, above all the lights, were beyond description. The young group of children sang nicely and moved with grace. A real feast when they displayed the flowers on their long stems. The language of poetry suited the musical beauty of the orchestra under Leopold Hager and a special mention to the chords, cello and violin.

Last image.

If only I could see this refreshing Werther another time to have a more coherent vision of it?

My photos are as usual of poor and authentic quality...
I did not feel like hanging out at the stage door. I would have liked to say hello and many thanks to Karine Deshayes. She was touching and very musical as always. A young and tormented Charlotte is born, and she sounds really good with the light and refreshing voice of her sister Sophie- Anne-Catherine Gillet.
I loved them all, really.

But I would have liked less happenings from other groups on the stage.
Too many cooks spoil the broth...
Photos from the Opera house now the opening night is over.
A useful link to understand this new Werther

Song for a dream: Rita Gorr and Berlioz .

I would have liked to upload this wonderful 'Mort de Didon', being an absolute admirer of hers!(and Berlioz).
Many thanks to addiodelpassato

Werther, Opera de Lyon, tomorrow!

From the Opera site with two videos
My own thoughts before setting off ( finished not long ago, updated).
"Charlotte! no, not the harlot!".
Charlotte's print from the French edition chapter XXI

Just a thought: Cherries, carnations, jasmine...

It is a fact that some crucial events seem to be associated with lovely symbols like flowers and fruit.
The incredible strong and fast uprising of liberty in Tunisia which is carrying its burden of blood and deaths is already named' The Jasmine Revolution'in the News.
The Portuguese one (1974) is referred to as the 'Carnation Revolution'.
La Commune de Paris (1871) is illustrated by a sweet melody, (lyrics J-B Clement 1866, music, Antoine Renard 1868), which looks back into the cherry-season, (may- June which was the period of the dreadful fights in Paris) and the red juice of them, like "drops of blood" says the song, the blood shed by the workers during the terrible week in May even called 'la semaine sanglante' because too many revolutionnaries had been killed on the barricades.
That was also the ultimate brave and crual way left to the working class in order to conquer rights.
Perhaps these images are necessary to soften the burden of the loss of human lives in these fights for freedom and equality against violence and oppression.
The Jasmine revolution' gives plenty of hope for the future of the Tunisian people.
The fragrance of Jasmine is so sweet, and so is the country of the jasmine.

Three Kings and Bizet, for a break, and a gorgeous cake !

I do not decorate a Christmas tree every year, but we do set up a Christmas crib every Christmas. Now, having grandchildren, they help me to set out the clay figurines of the Provençal 'crèche'. This year the girls even sowed the traditonal wheat seeds and loved watching them grow fast. Each year they also paint a clay figurine, they both started with a pig and a sheep, easier, and now managed to paint real figurines!


It is important to keep up with traditions.
In my favourite blogreadings it is a feeling which is shared by some of us, through cooking, Bourbour's memories of chilhood and beloved Mum's cooking are becoming a celebration, just like Marcel Proust and his tasty madeleine.
Willym and his so well documented tour of the presepe in Roma during the Christmas period is not to be missed. That is why I want to link my page to his, because I do not want to forget this marvellous tour, I would like to do the same one day, sooner and not later!
Yes, the Christmas period is over with the arrival of the three Kings, who followed the Star.
When I was a child in Marseille just after the end of the war, the state of the city, (we were taken to Marseille in August '45, a year or so after these documents, and the centre was not quite completely cleared) , the state of my own family was so terrible, that my Mum registered me in a private catholic school, run by Italian nuns who did not speak French fluently, and it was like a fairy island in the turmoil of the tempest! I have glorious memories of these Christmas days when I learned all the Marseille and Provençal traditions. We played pantomines of the nativity scenes and sang a lot on Georges Bizet 'Arlésienne' with French words' De bon matin j'ai vu passer le train de trois grands rois qui partaient en voyage' unforgetable since then.. I learnt how to make cottonwool and matchstick sheep and put them in big empty matchboxes, as presents for Mum and then display them in my own nativity scene, drawn and decorated by me in cut-out cardboard. It was a marvellous time, when I hardly took any notice of the bombed quarters around the port, the derelict parts of the bottom of the Rue de la Répubique. I knew it all though, as I had to play in the wasteland where Mum used to work as a town clerk, in one of the barracks left by the US Army during the Liberation of Marseille.
It is now 'Le Centre Bourse'with a Museum and a peaceful garden


where the ancient port welcomes dreams about the Greek settlement. I often have a break there, gazing at the stones.

I was four, five, six, then seven years old and kept going to this special school where I was also taught music. Because of the atmosphere of hope and the strength and courage of my Mum, I had a happy childhood in Marseille.

As the three Kings have now arrived with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, we can now invite neighbours and friends to share the special 'kings' cake, which will have two surprises baked inside it, a broad bean and a small ceramic figurine from 'La Pastorale' the nativity play in Provence, with special typical provençal characters, the most naïve and loved one being 'Lou ravi', with is welcoming sign of admiration for what is happening in this provençal village,

In my setting, he is standing by the windmill. In common speech you can refer to a person as 'ravi' ('delighted') for someone who is always happy and admiring.. and at the same time slightly stupid).

There will be a King and a Queen when we eat the cake, and the King, the one who has found the dry bean, is supposed to buy the next cake and invite his friends... a chain process really!

Here in the village, we are invited by the neighbours and in turn invite them, so I think we share some five or six 'gâteaux des Rois' during the month of January. (A good excuse for a nice break and friendship). Our local baker has a fidelity card and we get a free one after four cakes bought, he knows the tradition... and his cake is delicious, with super preserved fruit from Apt.

To really follow the tradition, we need children around the table on the 6th of January and onwards. The youngest one goes under the table and as the cake is being cut according to the number of guests (and of course if the knife shrieks on the ceramic figurine, that has to be kept secret..), each time, we ask the child' Pour qui celui-là ',? (who is this one for?) so more or less the cake cutter can know who is going to be King or Queen... and the King gets the paper crown which goes with each cake, today there is often more than one crown, as the baker asks how many kids there are at the party...it is always more fun with children around.

What goes well with this cake is a glass of 'vin cuit' (cooked wine?) which is rather hard to get now, we used to get some from Palette which is just outside Aix en Provence... As it has almost disappeared, we often replace it with a nice Port and think of the good old days of 'vin cuit'! what was the best of all was to dip a piece of 'pompe' (the cake which is next to the gâteau des rois in the last picture) in a drop of 'Vian et Vieil'! Another "madeleine" alla Proust...

On the 2nd of February the 'santons' will go back to their box, like in the song
'>Dans une boîte en carton sommeillent les petits santons...
Le berger, le rémouleur et l'enfant Jésus rédempteur'
Le ravi, qui le vit, est toujours ravi,
Les moutons en coton, sont serrés au fond...'
Many thanks to jacquesurlus, for these songs we used to learn and sing, and this singer, Tino Rossi, so loved in South-eastern France and in his native Corsica of course!
Since I wrote this page the songs have been removed, I have put a link to the Bizet prelude which is the score of this song. I still thank the brave uploader mentionned !

Anja Harteros . Alcina Vienna Staatsoper 2010

The hit parade of my season at the opera that was! and still is!
I attended a concert version at the TCE (10Jan).
What a wonderful artist singer Anja Harteros is!
I simply wish to be able to see her more often.I fairly well know it is difficult .Both Vesselina Kasarova and Anja Harteros do not sing in Southern Europe!
That was really an amazing cast for Handel!
I am writing  this comment  three years later, with the same entire admiration for these singers.
Youtube 'Oh! Mio cor' so moving,is no more available.
I will try to upload my own sample soon.
Meanwhile there is the dvd which is not quite the same as the discovery of this concert version which was like a trip in fairy land but still is a valuable token .

Charlotte, no, not the harlot...

I dropped a line about Werther some time ago.
I have not made up my mind, of course, about it all!

Charlotte, in the opera Werther, as well as in Goethe's letters, is a rather difficult character to understand from our present day perspective.
The whole social setting around her is also terribly dated and only understandable through a good historical background, where bourgeois values and religion can explain the weight of what could be seen as conventions, or the "normal" ethic at the end of the 18th century, in that part of Germany among well-bred people.
I have always found her position unaccepable, probably because I was brought up by an early 'feminist' who faced a divorce when it was not quite the fashion, and decided to settle alone with her young daughter far from her family.
When I re-read that early romantic drama which set fire to Europe through Goethe's novel in the form of letters, I feel uncomfortable.
The only real good thing about it is what Massenet implies through his music. The death of the hero, musically splendid, is vocally, rather too long.
I always feel like telling Werther just to mime his death, and let the orchestra do the rest, that would be even more heartbreaking and less ridiculous. In recent years I have seen Rolando Villazon twice as Werther and he saved the show, doing the perfect loony lost lover, even in the last Bastille production when he was perched on his rock throughout the whole opera, scribbling his verses like mad and whining his love sufferings and mal à l'âme. As for his Charlotte, sung by Susan Graham, I did not like her at all. Obviously the acting was only emphasized on the maternal duty towards her siblings and even when she had to let her passion show, she acted like a "mama". She looked too homely. Her voice did not strike the cello touch needed to recall Rita Gorr's glowing passion in her low range.
In fact, musically, 'Charlotte' is credible!I have illustrated the role with Rita Gorr. She still is my favourite for this role. Seduction is in the voice! Charlotte, who is sung by a mezzo, has to be attractive. If the voice is like a cello, the look could be forgotten. If the voice has the seduction of a shady kind, like an anti-Carmen, but with some wilderness in it too, that is fine by me!
Of course Charlotte is very "tame' she is the replacement Mother for her siblings, her father relies on her. Her future is already settled at the very start of the drama. She is engaged to Albert. Her dying Mother had made her promise to marry him, and Albert is praised by her family and friends for his qualities as a lawyer and young man. This kind of outlook on the feminine standard has been going on for centuries, and some women writers began to claim the right to be educated like men and choose their lover, asserting the right to say "no" to arranged marriages. This is starting with Beaumarchais, and taken over by feminine writers like Jane Austen to an absolute demand of equal rights with somone like Virginia Woolf in her 'Room of one's own'.
Although Charlotte falls in love at the very start of the opera, love at first sight, a passionate vision, she does not give way to her passion, but the music does more than the words. If she had followed her passion, Werther would have been saved. They could have eloped, gone against duty, bourgeois commitments; they might have shared some good time, perhaps realised after all that passion does not last, or else Werther would have been her eternal teenager lover, with his head stuck in the stars and his heart hanging on sunsets, oceans and mountain peaks and she would have stuck to her maternal instinct. At least she would have had her fling! Above all, Werther would have been saved.

The passion expressed in Massenet's scores gives more intensity to the characters. The young Werther is not so much arguing and bizarre and more of a lover type, which makes the whole drama even more painful and somehow outdated. These characters do not express their real motivations; they seem to act like puppets; duty and commitments stifle their inner motivations. Despair and suicide is Werther's only solution to escape from deep sorrow, a kind of lunatic illness.

Duty and obedience is Charlotte's only motto, asking for too much from her passionate lover. Because of the music, this drama goes deeply into one's inner thoughts and is the only possible incentive to go and listen to this tale again. Charlotte could bring in it a little of the harlot to make it more spicy...and not wait until Werther's last dying words to tell him she loves him...

Albert is a dreadful character in both the novel and the opera. He knows (in the Letters) that his friend has a strong tendency to suicide, and yet he lends him his pistols, and even asks his wife to fetch them and give them to Werther. This is strongly criticised in France in a novel (Xavier De Maistre 'voyages autour de ma chambre') where Albert is accused of being a false friend who sent the poor lover to commit suicide. I myself feel strongly like this XVIIIth century gentleman writer!
Of course Charlotte knows all about it at that very moment she gives Werther the pistols. So why did she do it?

"Il remit le petit billet à Albert, qui se tourna froidement vers sa femme, et lui dit: "Donne-lui les pistolets. Je lui souhaite un bon voyage" ajouta-t-il en s'adressant au domestique. Ce fut un coup de foudre pour Charlotte." (The servant gave the note to Albert, who coldly turned round to his wife and said 'Give him the pistols. I wish him a good journey' he added facing the servant. These words sounded like a bolt of lightning to Charlotte'
But so why didn't she rush out to join him without the pistols and just by doing something like that, decide for another ending to this weeping willow drama?

Fate... the will of the writer...the beginning of romanticism...The spleen..all that to save the honour of a married woman, who otherwise would have become a little bit of a harlot?

Beautiful scores of passion in the music, for the tenor and the mezzo, and not really for a soprano, and indeed the cello type of voice suits this character better, if the voice is of that brassy medium with lots of vibrations. Otherwise, it can be very boring.

The 2010 Bastille's Jacquot production which I followed on my TV screen did not convince me, nor did the singers. Jonas Kaufman does not have the type of voice I would naturally love; he has got the right looks but not the voice, no radiance in it for me, dull and no vibrations, too "cold" and Sophie Koch seems out of breath too often and lost in this huge empty stage, very well suited to her Werther, both 'cold' and technically nearly perfect and rather boring: musically efficient without the necessary emotion. Yet I remember reading that audiences wept a lot at Bastille at this production.

So, I will set off to Lyon with great motivations: a new setting under Rolando Villazon who already has given a few tips for his vision from what he fairly well knows of this opera.

No doubt there will be surprises and deep psychological insights, alla Rolando Villazon, in the characters expressed through his beloved 'clowns', clowns and miming to get away from this stifling reality, perhaps to express their dreams; Charlotte and Werther happy in a dream, like what is implied in the musical themes of their love? De Maistre would have cried even more if he had had the chance to listen to Massenet's Werther...
Now there is a new-born Charlotte for this Werther in the Opera de Lyon's 2011 production : Karine Deshayes.

Through this Fauré Album which I loved I became a fan of hers.

I went to Avignon in October to actually feel her voice; she is a rather 'light' mezzo with a real vibrant medium, rich and colourful, and a seductive and easy overflowing high range. I fell in love with her album 'Le jardin Clos' which I talked about and I now know how beautiful she sounds. She gave a recital at the Palais des Papes, the rich colours and musicality of her voice were a wonder that night; luckily because I did not enjoy the soprani at all.

Some of my poor quality pictures of the evening in Avignon with Cherubini and Karine Deshayes:





To keep in touch with this production which I understand will be saved by poetry and imagination alla Rolando Villazon, if you are in France:
http://www.playtv.fr/programme/111105-une-journee-a-l-opera-de-lyon.html

Off to Lyon tomorrow morning!

(Rolando Villazon's drawing for Werther settings)

La Traviata , Saint-Maur, Alice Gulipian!

Suppose you are in Paris these days and your evenings are free. All the trendy theaters are either full or too expensive. You love opera and singers.
There is one place to go and spend a few euros ( no more than thirty) and a couple of hours, The Saint- Maur Theater where Traviata is starting. Then this opera will be on tour in France. I will be seeing it in Narbonne for the last performance.
The young soprano who sings Violetta has what Verdi required for the role, the youth, the beauty and frail looks and above all a flamboyant voice, which will take you in the rapture of this role, which suits her. She is a sensitive and skilled young artist. She appears for the first time in this role on the French scene and I can predict she will be soon well-known. I have seen her three times: each year at this marvellous summer recital in south of France, with the baritone Arnaud Kientz, (first pict for this past summer, it is noticeable to see the frescos are finished !) and on the 5th of Dec in a concert at the Lacydon in Marseilles,(following picts) where she gave a stunning rendition of 'sempre libera'among other beautiful arias.

centre lyrique Clermont-Auvergne
The tour of the opera with the young and talented cast.

12-janv
Saint Maur
15-janv
Clermont-Ferrand
16-janv
Clermont-Ferrand
23-janv
Romans?
30-janv
Nevers
03-févr
Roissy
05-févr
Corbeil
06-févr
Dôle
11-févr
Béziers
13-févr
Romans?
16-mars
Arcachon
17-mars
Périgueux
19-mars
Narbonne

Touring Mexico with Rolando from the Mail.

A good read which takes worries away, perhaps with some musical bits from his latest album?
La Cucaracha alla Rolando which ended the TCE recital is great fun to recall.
Best wishes to this artist who has to find new paths and has tremendous artistic gifts to share. I am glad I have managed to see him since 2006, and will try to hear his Mozart singing performance nearly in the Summer. A long way to go!

(This is for an English audience. In Paris, he almost did the same impresario gag, without the sombrero!)
Rolando and Lucy did not honeymoon in this spot, not bad though...

Links.

My blogosphere has changed the routine of my life. I have chosen English speaking blogs to be sure I would keep a chance to practice reading and trying to express myself on things that matter to me. Opera came first with Opera chic, then Gert, and Intermezzo. Gradually the circle got wider: Willym's musical, human and ever so artistic daily writing is a source of learning. Touring museums and Roma in his footsteps is a luxury. Sharing festivals, Salzburg or Pesaro, takes me away from my village, because I am not always on the move! There is now Smorgy for the love of the mezzo, like me, and I got really passionate about Smorg's very good writings on Vesselina Kasarova, nature, birds, pets, friends and opera of course!
Tonight I will refer to a link I care for. Being what I am, very fond of the singers of my youth, I have to mention a blog dedicated to the French baritones: Pêcheurs de perles, mainly about the young Ludovic Tezier and also the older French ones. Just before Christmas, the operatic world came aware of the death of Ernest Blanc, a famous French baritone who sang with Rita Gorr quite a lot; I have seen him on stage in Marseille several times in my youth. On youtube very good channels paid tribute to his memory straight away after his death was known. Here are the links to celebrate his memory. Once again youtube gave more warmth and opportunities to people who care about him to express their sorrow, when radios and Tv news kept silent.
Pêcheurs de perles
youtube channel LIRIKXIII
I will start the year on this wonderful tune: "J'ai fait trois fois le tour du monde". With my upbringing in a family of singers, this tune was a must at some family gatherings, when the members were all there, especially the singer ones! But it is not a sad memory at all! Ordinary thoughts without any little music are dull, therefore, sad. Memories with their own musical themes, little music of the heart, are so rich and dear to me.