Werther

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Image courtesy of Gran Teatre del Liceu.

In 1774, The Sorrows of Young Werther was published, a novel with autobiographical traits by the then-unknown German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, at the age of 25. It quickly became a milestone in universal literature. It is a work that belongs to the Romantic period and is one of the best examples of the Sturm und Drang movement. An epistolary work that tells the story of Werther, a passionate young man who writes letters to his friend Wilhelm about his obsessive love for Charlotte, who rejects him to marry another man because she promised her dying mother to do so.

The success of the novel, paradoxically, turned into a significant social problem, as in January 1775, a wave of love suicides inspired by the romantic hero began. These cases continued for several years and became a phenomenon that was later extensively studied and spread throughout Europe. Passionate about the intensity of the plot, Massenet began setting it to music in 1885.

Premiered in German at the Wiener Staatsoper in February 1892, the work had a moderate success. It wasn't until the performances in Geneva and Paris in its French version that it became established as one of the composer’s best works.

The role of Werther, due to its vocal difficulty, is often referred to as the "French Tristan"; and for Charlotte, it includes some of the most intense and dramatic pages in the entire repertoire. Xabier Anduaga (in his debut role) and Matthew Polenzani will alternate with the Charlottes of Kristina Stanek and Elmina Hasan. These prodigious voices will immerse us in this score, which is nothing more than an intimate confession of contained feelings, inner expressions through a poignant and delicate melodic line and an elegant orchestral backdrop.

This new production, coming from La Scala in Milan and directed by Christof Loy, is centered on the interpersonal mechanisms and psychological aspects of the characters. With an intimate focus on the protagonists, it places them in an elegant and essential set design set in the 1950s, with a large horizontal wall that dominates the stage, enclosing the central characters’ actions and suffocating them in their deepest emotions. This wall divides the world of domestic intimacy, affection, and feelings (the family’s, to which Werther will never be able to enter) from the outside world. The starkness of the space adds an additional symbolic weight to the elements.

Conformity and the norm of convention will be an unbreakable prison, shaping their destiny and confronting them with personal tragedy and death as the only way out. Charlotte will arrive too late. Werther is already dying as she desperately declares her love for him. Outside, children sing of the birth of Jesus. An impressive contrast that will send shivers down your spine.

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