[Met Performance] CID:228350



Werther
Metropolitan Opera House, Tue, February 1, 1972




Werther (28)
Jules Massenet | Édouard Blau/Paul Milliet/Georges Hartmann
Werther
Franco Corelli

Charlotte
Régine Crespin

Albert
John Reardon

Sophie
Colette Boky

Bailiff
Donald Gramm

Schmidt
Nico Castel

Johann
Richard Best

Käthchen
Lorraine Keane

Brühlmann
Lou Marcella


Conductor
Alain Lombard


Production
Paul-Emile Deiber

Designer
Rudolf Heinrich





Werther received seven performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Raymond Ericson in The New York Times

CRESPIN STYLE ADDS TO 'WERTHER' APPEAL

Massenet's "Werther" is a profound work, yet its total charm is not given away on first hearing. It deserves enough repetition to let its considerable felicities make an impact. The Metropolitan Opera gave it a new production last winter and, despite its lack of popularity, it has wisely kept it in the repertory this season. It returned Tuesday night, its appeal strengthened by a knowledgeable cast and conductor.

Régine Crespin's Charlotte, mature in appearance and somewhat edgy in sound, had so much style, was so exquisitely inflected in the singing, as to set a standard for the rest of the performance. It was met handily by the upstanding Albert of John Reardon, the paternal Bailiff of Donald Gramm and the Sophie of Colette Boky. The soprano was new here in the part, but she looked delightfully girlish and sang most engagingly.

Franco Corelli is not much of a vocal stylist, yet when the Corelli sound coincided with the most impassioned of Massenet's scenes, the effect was exciting. One admires at least, his efforts to act the part of the sorrowing, suicidal Werther. Alain Lombard conducted, at times too strenuously, but in general with taste and sensitivity.



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