Crime and Punishment

Kammeroper Wien [ENA] Various works in the classical literature were discussing the issue of crime and punishment. For example, the Russian writer from the 19th century Dostoevsky in his book with the same title “Crime and Punishment” was writing about the topic. Also our perceptions of fairness are that a punishment should follow after a crime. This is the topic being illustrated in the opera “Thérèse Raquin”.

The opera with the music of Tobias Picker and libretto of Gene Scheer was written after the roman of Emile Zola. The opera is performed in the Kammeroper Wien in December 2021 and January 2022. The original story is as following. Thérèse is married to Camille Raquin, her sickly cousin with whom she grew up. Her father had simply left her with her aunt after the death of her own mother. From an early age, she was assigned to look after the weak boy, and marrying him was a logical consequence - although she is more of a carer than a wife. Both of their lives continue to be determined by Madame Raquin, who is always concerned about her son. Meanwhile, Camille is strong enough to work in an office together with his childhood friend Laurent.

Unlike Camille, Laurent is dissatisfied with office work; he wants to become a great painter. That is why he has broken with his father and is constantly short of money. He is currently painting a portrait of Camille and is often with the Raquins. Thérèse pretends to dislike his presence, but in truth she has an obsessive sexual relationship with the vital would-be artist. The evening he finishes the portrait, he wants to break up with Thérèse because he no longer has time for clandestine meetings as he has to earn money. Thérèse despairs. A few days later, Thérèse, Laurent and Camille take a trip to the Seine.

The idea spontaneously arises between Thérèse and Laurent that they must get rid of Camille in order to be openly happy together - with the help of the small fortune Camille has to bequeath. They take a boat out on the river and Laurent drowns Camille. Eleven months later, Thérèse and Laurent finally marry. However, the longed-for happiness fails to materialise; on the wedding night Thérèse can no longer love Laurent, she has long since been consumed by remorse.

Meanwhile, Madame Raquin suspects that Camille has not accidentally drowned. By chance, she overhears the guilty couple talking about the crime and suffers a stroke of shock. Paralysed, she survives as a cautionary reminder of the murder, and the couple increasingly grinds against each other, love turning to hate. When Thérèse can't stand it any longer and wants to report Laurent to the police as a murderer, he prepares poison for her. But mad with guilt, she stabs herself in front of him, and in horror Laurent drinks his own poison.

From the first look the opera following the same logic that after a crime should follow a punishment. Thérèse Raquin together with her lover Laurent is killing her handicapped husband Camille and make it looks like it was a suicide. Now the punishment should follow and indeed it follows. This is the end of happy love between Thérèse and Laurent and the tragic and dramaturgy of the opera are resulting in the murder at the end. Both lovers planned to kill each other, with various means. In the current version of the opera Thérèse was killing Laurent.

This is a story which is in dramatic reddish colors, fantastic play and singing of young opera singers from Kammeroper Wien and very skilled stage setting is being told to spectators. However, not everything is so easy and so straightforward. Was it really a punishment? And what kind of punishment? And who was really punished? The libretto of Gene Scheer creates a multidimensional story line of the opera. It starts with scenes of Thérèse being treated badly by her home mates, Camille and his mother. She is being treated like a servant and a nurse of Camille.

Unlucky life coincidences that father left her and the mother of Camille raised her make her to be grateful and dependent on the family of Camille. This is a wish of Camille mother that Thérèse marries Camille to take care of him. The poor and loveless decoration of the house at the stage makes also to suppose poor financial conditions of the family. So the question of who is punished? Probably everybody in the opera in his or her kind. The mother of Camille with a brain stroke when she finds out that Thérèse and Laurent killed her son? Thérèse and Laurent with the horrible end of their love relationship? Camille who was killed after celebration with champaign of the portrait being made for him by his friend Laurent?

A very sad story where people broke lives of each other instead of being happy and making each other happy. The story was written in the 19th century by Emile Zola who is known for his naturalistic style of writing and the moral teaching character of his works. But the question remains if the story would be different and would end differently in conditions of our time? If Thérèse would have a choice and marry one whom she loves? If the mother of Camille would not have a right to decide for her son whom to marry? If society would tolerate a divorce? Or was love of Thérèse and Laurent only possible in conditions of this triangle relationship and broke when Camille left the stage?

A very controversial and inviting for further thinking opera. But as usually virtuously performed by singers of the Kammeroper Wien including Julia Mintzer, Valentina Petraeva, Andrew Morstein, Juliette Mars, Timothy Connor, Miriam Kutrowatz, Ivan Zinoviev, Hyunduk Kim and the orchestra of the Kammeroper Wien.