Werther

Synopsis

French romantic opera. Set in Germany, it tells the simple story of Werther and his unfulfilled love for Charlotte, whose promise to marry someone else must be kept. Familiar themes of self-sacrifice are here, along with forgiveness, humility and the inevitable, yet still deeply tragic, conclusion. From the opening of the opera when we first meet the six children of Charlotte's family as they sing carols, to the unbearably sad ending.

Our Review:

6 May 2011

Following on from last year’s Manon, and prior to Cendrillon at the end of the current season, the Royal Opera’s flurry of Massenet works has his finest opera at its centre.  

An appealing duo of stars – Rolando Villazón, in a welcome return to the house, and the superb French mezzo Sophie Koch – light up Benoît Jacquot’s otherwise lacklustre production of Werther, revived for the first time since 2004.

Villazón lacks the tragic intensity of Alfredo Kraus, Covent Garden’s first Werther of recent times, who was virtually peerless as the unhappy hero.  It’s hard to imagine anyone being influenced by Villazón’s portrayal into committing fashionable copy-cat suicide, as supposedly some smitten youngsters did when Goethe’s novel was published in the 1770s.  

In his romantic longings, Werther is a little too far along the continuum b...

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Latest User Review

Steve - 8 May 2011:

Say what you like about Villazón, but I really love him. I've seen him a number of times, and always enjoyed his intensity (which I consider honest in an operatic emotional way, rather than "hammy"). He may not sound as sweet as Juandi, or as versatile as Kaufman, but generally I find his wholly committed, loveable loser persona more charming than them, a combination of sweet, versatile and intense which somehow delivers that extra charisma that is more than the sum of it's parts. So for me, another opera to watch through a veil of romantic tears, feeling emotionally renewed when it's all over. And yes, Sophie Koch is a great stage partner for him. Come back soon, Rolando!...

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