Tag Archives: Werther
Werther in HD – Greatness and Catastrophe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th March 2014Massenet’s Werther was telecast today in theaters around the world. Let’s begin with the end. It was mute. Shortly after Charlotte entered Werther’s room in the final scene of Massenet’s opera the sound was lost. It wasn’t found until after the curtain fell. I’ve already heard from a viewer in San Francisco that the sound…
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Pourquoi Me Réveiller?
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th February 2012Werther is Massenet’s masterpiece. It’s an ode to self pity. It and Manon are the only operas, out of more than 30 by Massenet, that are firmly in the standard repertory. The opera, based on Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, depicts its protagonist’s unsuccessful and ultimately suicidal love for his friend’s fiance and then wife. If Werther had…
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