Massenet: Werther

Under the baton of Michel Plasson, a Massenet specialist, Jonas Kaufmann and Sophie Koch perform one of opera's most touching love stories. In Massenet's masterpiece, tears never cease to flow from the very moment the moonlight idyll is revealed and destroyed. "My whole being cries at it" says Werther. We are a long way from opera's usual tears, be they furtive or violent. These tears flow slowly and inexorably, one by one. “Patient tears” as Charlotte puts it. In the space of four acts, they will have done their work. Charlotte cannot hold them back as she rereads Werther's letters, and her tears are the only part of her, the only sacrifice that he dares ask of her. They will flow in front of Sophie, the angel of consolation. They will flow when Werther reads Ossian. And finally they will flow at the sight of Werther's blood-soaked body. Yet he refuses these last tears: for now he is happy and free. “Werther” is a long requiem, ‘lacrimosa dies illa’, a tearful day if ever there was – a requiem for a young poet ending in paradise.

REPERTOIRE:	Jules Massenet: Werther
ORCHESTRA:	Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris
CONDUCTOR:	Michel Plasson
PERFORMERS:	Jonas Kaufmann, Werther; Sophie Koch, Charlotte; Ludovic Tézier Albert; Alain Vernhes, Le Bailli; Andreas Jaggi, Jean Schmidt; Christian Tréguier, Johann; Anne-Catherine Gillet, Sophie; Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine/chœur d’enfants de l’Opéra national
Artistic Staff:	Benoît Jacquot, stage director; Charles Edwards, scenery; André Diot, lighting; Christian Gasc, costumes
PROG.NR.:	7928
GENRE:	Opera
PROG.LENGTH:	150'
DIRECTOR:	Benoît Jacquot, Louise Narboni
PRODUCERS:	Idéale Audience in co-production with ARTE France and the Opéra national de Paris