Werther

ABOUT

Soon after its publication, Goethe’s 1774 epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther became a cult book, one in which the readers recognised themselves, with a number of them even taking the hero’s example and committing suicide. The work is a seminal text of the German proto-Romantic literary movement known as Sturm und Drang, whose adherents placed emphasis on human emotionality as the answer to the cool rationalism of the era of the Enlightenment. Linking up to his teacher Thomas and his colleague Gounod, Massenet’s compositional style is primarily noted for abundant distinct melody and colourful orchestration, inspired in part by Richard Wagner.

His suggestible musical idiom serves to underline a story replete with passions, which the protagonists fail to satisfy. Massenet’s Werther, one of the most acclaimed French operas, is returning to the National Theatre in Prague almost 80 years after the previous production, performed from 1927 to 1939.

The original premiere of the production took place on 14 January 1996 at the Het Muziektheater (Nederlandse Opera) in Amsterdam.

Cast

National Theatre Orchestra 
Prague Philharmonic Children's Choir

Dirigent: Sébastien Rouland

Werther: Alejandro Del Angel, Kyungho Kim

Charlotte: Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir

Sophie: Zuzana Marková, Jekatěrina Krovatěva

Albert: Jiří Brückler, Pavol Kubáň

Městský správce: Zdeněk Plech, Jerzy Butryn

Johann: Pavel Švingr, Jan Hnyk

Creatives

Staging conception: Willy Decker

Sets and costumes: Wolfgang Gussmann

Chorus master of the Prague Philharmonic Children´s Choir: Jiří Chvála

Dramaturgy: Beno Blachut