Werther in Eight Words
Saison 2024/2025 |
It has been 250 years since Goethe wrote his cult novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. At the heart of the book is the infatuated Werther, who falls in love with Lotte. But she is already taken: On her mother's deathbed, she promised to marry the callous Albert. She remains faithful, even if her heart tells her otherwise, and his courtship ends tragically.
It is clear that such a Sturm und Drang story was bound to cause a sensation at the time it was written - after all, Goethe precisely captured the literary taste of his era. Napoleon, for example, is said to have carried the book with him at all times, and young people in 1775 liked to dress according to the title character. The best-known musical version of the novel - Jules Massenet's opera Werther - premiered at the Vienna Court Opera in 1892 to great acclaim. And is now back on the repertoire.
The singers of the two main roles - Kate Lindsey and Matthew Polenzani - immerse themselves in the protagonist's world of love and thoughts using eight key words.
MP Unfortunately, Werther can only see everything from a very narrow perspective. Whatever it is about - he sees it through the filter of his love for Charlotte. When she finally closes the door to his dream of shared happiness, he sees only one way out. His dream world and reality are so far apart that he sees no way to unite the two.
KL I think Charlotte loves many people, indeed all the people around her, and she does so from the bottom of her heart and with complete freedom. She is simply full of love. But she reaches her limits when it comes to expressing this love. That's how she loves Werther. But she can't express it to him.
MP She is the driving force for Werther. Unfortunately, there is an aspect of his psyche that prevents him from understanding that love exists in many ways and in many facets. As he is completely absorbed by Charlotte, he cannot recognize that there could be another person for him. On a poetic level, this is a beautiful idea - a unique love for just one person, true love.
KL The word that comes to mind in relation to Charlotte and society is stuck. Around her, we discover a society that has become rigid and strict, with fixed rules. The rules are simply the rules. The expectations are the expectations. Not to be changed. And nobody questions them. In terms of society, I also think that the greatest tragedy for Charlotte is that she feels a deep love and concern for Werther, but cannot show or express it to him because of her circumstances. That's the trap she's caught in, and that's where I really feel empathy for this character.
MP Werther's view of the world is very straightforward. For him, fulfillment or satisfaction consists solely of being with Charlotte. And when that doesn't work, he seeks fulfillment in death. If we were to come up with a psychogram for Werther, I think we would find that he is an immature person whose emotional development was stunted at some point. Werther was never able to really grow up.
MP His happiness is directly linked to hers. When Charlotte is happy, he is happy too. When she suffers, he suffers too. When he takes his own life in the end, he doesn't just end his own pain. He believes that he will ultimately free Charlotte and give her the happiness to lead the life she needs to lead.
KL Loyalty is a duty. Charlotte is particularly loyal to her sister. She is faithful to the promise she made to her dying mother, namely to marry Albert, whom she does not love. She is faithful to her father - and to Albert. But all of this must be subsumed under the central theme, namely duty. Because all of the above is ultimately not what she wanted or wants for herself - not after she meets Werther.
MP All the terms we are talking about boil down to fidelity. Werther understands Charlotte's need to remain faithful to Albert. He believes that he himself can only be faithful to one woman. And in order not to stand in Charlotte's way in her life with Albert, it is his fidelity to her that leads him to take his own life. I wish someone could have given him a different perspective to see a way out. My heart aches at his longing and the path he chooses. Of course, the plot and the opera wouldn't have the same impact if he hadn't chosen death. For the audience, it is moving to imagine a love that is so deep and true. We all long for love, to love and to be loved. We all know the feeling of unrequited love. And that makes us empathize with Werther. It is precisely this shared knowledge of loss and broken hearts that makes us weep for him - and with Charlotte and a love they could never share.