Oper

Jules Massenet

Werther

Drame lyrique in vier Akten

Text Paul Milliet & Édouard Blau & Georges Hartmann

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wednesday 5. March 2025 One intermission Main Stage
Area 1 220 €
Area 1

220 €

Area 2 175 €
Area 2

175 €

Area 3 140 €
Area 3

140 €

Area 4 100 €
Area 4

100 €

Area 5 76 €
Area 5

76 €

Area 6 52 €
Area 6

52 €

Area 7 36 €
Area 7

36 €

Area 8 25 €
Area 8

25 €

Area 9 15 €
Area 9

15 €

Standing room
Standing room

Subscription 11

Ticket information

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

18. December 2024: RIGOLETTO
12. Febuary 2025: TOSCA
05. March 2025: WERTHER
07. May 2025: BALLET: PATHÉTIQUE
04. June 2025: TANNHÄUSER


Cast at
5. March 2025

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Andrei Serban

Bühne und Kostüme

Peter Pabst

Kostümmitarbeit

Petra Reinhardt

3 more dates

Werther

Cast at Saturday 8. March 2025

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Andrei Serban

Bühne und Kostüme

Peter Pabst

Kostümmitarbeit

Petra Reinhardt
Area 1 220 €
Area 1

220 €

Area 2 175 €
Area 2

175 €

Area 3 140 €
Area 3

140 €

Area 4 100 €
Area 4

100 €

Area 5 76 €
Area 5

76 €

Area 6 52 €
Area 6

52 €

Area 7 36 €
Area 7

36 €

Area 8 25 €
Area 8

25 €

Area 9 15 €
Area 9

15 €

Standing room
Standing room

Werther

Cast at Tuesday 11. March 2025

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Andrei Serban

Bühne und Kostüme

Peter Pabst

Kostümmitarbeit

Petra Reinhardt
Area 1 220 €
Area 1

220 €

Area 2 175 €
Area 2

175 €

Area 3 140 €
Area 3

140 €

Area 4 100 €
Area 4

100 €

Area 5 76 €
Area 5

76 €

Area 6 52 €
Area 6

52 €

Area 7 36 €
Area 7

36 €

Area 8 25 €
Area 8

25 €

Area 9 15 €
Area 9

15 €

Standing room
Standing room

U27  
Werther

Cast at Friday 14. March 2025

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Andrei Serban

Bühne und Kostüme

Peter Pabst

Kostümmitarbeit

Petra Reinhardt
Area 1 220 €
Area 1

220 €

Area 2 175 €
Area 2

175 €

Area 3 140 €
Area 3

140 €

Area 4 100 €
Area 4

100 €

Area 5 76 €
Area 5

76 €

Area 6 52 €
Area 6

52 €

Area 7 36 €
Area 7

36 €

Area 8 25 €
Area 8

25 €

Area 9 15 €
Area 9

15 €

Standing room
Standing room

Included in: Subscription 7
Subscription 7

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

27. September 2024: BALLET: SCHWANENSEE
25. October 2024: FIN DE PARTIE
15. November 2024: MADAMA BUTTERFLY
14. March 2025: WERTHER
06. June 2025: CARMEN

About the production

When young Werther sees how lovingly Charlotte, the daughter of an official, treats her little siblings, he falls madly in love with her.

Charlotte also develops feelings for him, but has to reject him. She has promised her dying mother that she will marry her fiancé Albert. Werther cannot accept his fate and confesses his love for Charlotte again after her marriage to Albert. The growing affection between the two culminates in a tragic end: Werther takes his own life and Charlotte can only confess her love in the face of the dying man.

Werther

Storyline

In the middle of summer, the widowed bailiff rehearses Christmas carols with his children, who are still minors.

Werther, who comes to visit, waxes lyrical about the wonderful natural surroundings. When he sees the great love that the children have for their sister Charlotte, the bailiff's only adult daughter, he is deeply impressed. Left alone with Charlotte, he confesses his love for her. But Charlotte evades him and reminds him of a vow she had made to her dying mother: to marry Albert, her fiancé. Then the news arrives that Albert has returned. Werther is left behind in despair.

A few months after Albert and Charlotte's wedding, the two rivals have a discussion. But Albert seems to forgive Werther for his earlier passion. As soon as Charlotte and Werther are alone, however, he reaffirms his love for her. Charlotte rejects him again and only allows him to see her again at Christmas time. Werther flees, leaving Sophie, Charlotte's 15-year-old sister, crying behind. She has fallen unhappily in love with him.

On Christmas Day, Charlotte, who is now also devoted to Werther, reads his letters. A suicide threat in the letter frightens her.

When Sophie arrives and talks about Werther, Charlotte bursts into tears. When she is alone again, Werther comes to her unexpectedly. He demands a kiss, but Charlotte refuses. Werther then leaves Charlotte and sends Albert a letter in which he asks for his pistol, which Albert sends him.

When Charlotte becomes aware of Werther's suicidal intentions, she sets off in search of him. But she only finds him dying. Now that everything is too late, she confesses her love for him. In the background, the children sing the Christmas carol they rehearsed in the summer.

Act 1 & 2 75 min
Intermission 25 min
Act 3 & 4 65 min

Andrei Serban's 2005 production carefully shifts the action to the 1950s. On Peter Pabst's stage, the action develops under, around and in the large tree in the center. The changing seasons visible in its crown clearly reflect the theme of the passing of time that is so important in Werther.

As one of the most important works in the French Romantic repertoire, Werther is also characterized by a pluralism of form that Carl Dahlhaus described as eclectic in the best sense of the word: "Eclecticism in Massenet's case does not mean a renunciation of originality [...] but rather the freedom to meet the changing challenges of the subject matter." Even though Massenet wanted to follow on from the triumph of his Manon with Werther, he refused to follow the dictates of the director of the Paris Opéra-Comique, who demanded that he copy the successful opera in terms of form and style. Instead, he sought new creative paths and forms of expression: On the one hand, Massenet explored the work of Richard Wagner and, on the other, experimented with orchestration. Among other things, he added the saxophone as a soloist to the instrumentation, thus achieving proto-impressionistic sound colors.

In his memoirs, Jules Massenet portrays the publisher and librettist Georges Hartmann as the driving force behind Werther . The two had attended the Parsifal performance in Bayreuth together in 1885, which was so important for Massenet, and had subsequently traveled to various German cities, including Wetzlar, the scene of the events that had inspired Goethe to write The Sorrows of Young Werther . There, Hartmann had also presented Massenet with a French translation of Goethe's epistolary novel. Hartmann went to great lengths for the project of Massenet's setting of the material, as the composer describes: "He spoke excellent German, he read Goethe in the original, he appreciated the German soul, and so he attached great importance to my finally tackling this work. When it was suggested to me one day that I write a lyrical opera to La vie de Bohème by Murger, he took the responsibility of rejecting this work without consulting me in the slightest."

© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper

This production is sponsored by

FAQ

Tickets for our standing room can be purchased online or at the Bundestheater box office from 10 am on the day of the performance. BundestheaterCard holders can book standing room tickets online the day before the performance.

In addition, a fixed contingent of standing room tickets is available for regular evening performances from 80 minutes before the start of the performance at our standing room box office (Operngasse entrance).

Our operas are sung in the original languages - these vary depending on the work.

At each seat, subtitles in different languages can be switched on or off via a separate subtitle screen. In addition to the original language of the opera, you can choose from up to eight languages: German, English, Italian, French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin).

In the event of a change of performance, you can of course return or exchange your tickets.

As changes to the cast cannot be ruled out due to illnesses or other hindrances of artists, there is no entitlement to a refund of the ticket price or exchange in this case.

Tickets cannot be returned or exchanged if you are not admitted to the auditorium due to being late (even after the interval).

About Your Visit

Cloakroom

The cloakrooms are located next the the entrances at the Operngasse. You can find additional cloakrooms on the left and right side of the balcony and the gallery and in the boxes. All cloakrooms are free of charge.

Be on Time

We kindly ask you to arrive on time for the performances. Latecomers can only be admitted during the intermission. After the intermission, re-entry will not be possible.

Food and Drink

Our gastronomy opens at the same time entry is permitted. You can enjoy some snacks and drinks before the performance starts or you can book a table for the break.

Practical Information

You can find more practical information regarding your visit (e.g. Dresscode, barrier-free-access, …) here.

 

Discounts, Subscriptions, Cycles

Discounts

The Vienna State Opera has the following offers for discounted tickets:

  • U27
  • Children's & youth tickets
  • BundestheaterCard
  • Ballet Bonus
  • Ö1-Club
  • Culture pass "Hunger for art and culture"
  • Disabled pass
More Info

Subscriptions

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances.

  • 4x opera, 1x ballet
  • spread over the whole season
  • total savings of up to 30 % compared to the normal price
More Info

Cycles

Buy several performances bundled in a package!

  • large selection of different cycles
  • summarized according to composers, performers or themes
  • spread over the whole season
  • up to 10 % discount compared to the normal price
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