At the end of Act I, as Werther and Charlotte return from the dance, the orchestra plays a beautiful theme suggesting moonlight, the ‘Clair de lune’. Listen here to a recording from our Paris production, Michel Plasson conducting. And here is the 2016 ROH cast (Joyce DiDonato and Vittorio Grigolo) with the same scene. (Go back through the great voices – here are Frederica von Stade & José Carreras in an early recording.)
The theme, like that of Massenet’s later and now more famous Meditation in Thais (wait three weeks), is very simple. Here it is on piano.
But in the opera it’s a thread woven into the drama. In Act 1, it starts in the strings and swells through the whole orchestra. Wait - it will come up again as Charlotte finally declares her love in Act IV.
Here are the ROH reflections on the music.
“The ‘Clair de lune’, which is recalled twice, stills the house. The main theme – which you may well come out singing – is the same each time. Massenet’s secret weapon is to orchestrate its accompaniment to follow the beat a quaver late, creating a strangely ethereal effect that masks the utter simplicity of the theme and its harmonies. After all, Werther believes that his love for Charlotte – although potentially adulterous – is pure and God-given. The love theme, almost childlike and angelic-sounding with a prominent harp, mirrors his sentiments precisely.
“Massenet brings the opera to a powerful close with the final reprise of the ‘Clair de lune’. In the score’s final pages, all Werther’s troubles are heard in the cellos and basses pitted against the simple chordal singing of the children in a sort of unresolved C major. The problems of someone in a trapped marriage while in love with another are, likewise, impossible to resolve, even with a hefty dose of the delightful syrup emanating from Massenet’s highly-refined art. For some years the opera was misconceived as a sugar factory – in retrospect it was a highly refined interface between libretto and music, underpinned by Massenet’s profound knowledge of stagecraft.”
A final comment from the team behind our Paris production:
“In a discreet Clair de lune, the orchestra murmurs the silent empathy of two people holding each other by the arm for fear that their hands or their hearts might touch, until finally, in a febrile outburst of fervour, the tears of Charlotte… release the impassioned lyricism of inevitably doomed love."
Do you have a spare 26 minutes?
Here’s the whole of Act IV (Sao Paulo production) – just play it to listen to how the shattering drama resolves with the Clair de lune.
If you don't have 26 minutes, here's the final scene from the Met production.
And if, like me, you confess that your favourite gem of “light music” from Werther is his “breath of spring” aria, “Pourquoi me réveiller?” – here are the words.
And here is Luciano Pavarotti, in 1986. For total contrast - here's Juan Diego Florez recording it in 2014.
Having wallowed in these performances, now listen to how that theme is driven through the dramatic end of Act III, the breath of spring building into tumultuous gales. Joyce DiDonato and Vittorio Grigolo at ROH this year.