If you know “Werther,” you’ve got an inside line on contemporary American youth culture.
The story may be 240 years old, but we’re still enthralled. “Werther” (pronounced VEHR-tehr) encodes the values of Romanticism: intense individuality, feeling over reason, lovesickness – diva behavior and divo despair.
One of Romanticism’s great tragic heroes, Werther’s story swept through Europe the instant it appeared in novella form by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” was published in 1774. Soon young men and women were choosing suicide in significant numbers as a solution to painful, unrequited love.
From that time until now, The Werther Effect has continued.
Many cultural historians believe our era is an extension of late Romanticism – despite the Industrial Revolution, two world wars and the technological age, which we’re enmeshed in. According to this theory, Western civilization continues to bear the psychological highs and lows, the shining brow and the bodily scars of Romanticism: a youth culture prone to heightened excitement – witness action movies and the Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) of personal everyday drama.
Today, copycat suicides follow celebrity deaths and have been frequent enough to warrant the sociological term: The Werther Effect.
On Saturday, The MET: Live in HD will present one operatic version of “Werther,” starring Jonas Kaufmann in the title role. This opera was written 100 years after Goethe’s famous book. Add another century, and productions still have emotional currency.
In 1887, inspired by the spirit of his own time, the French composer, Jules Massenet, and a team of librettists began work on the opera about early Romanticism’s tragic hero. They reset the story from Goethe’s late 18th to the late 19th century – in other words, their own time.
The opera follows the plot line of Goethe’s book in which the hero, about 20, is recovering from a youthful crush and has traveled to a new town. When he arrives, he’s practically smitten by the first girl he meets. Charlotte (Lotte) is the prettiest, smartest and eldest of seven children. Her mother died a year ago, and she is in charge of the household. She reveres her hard working father and feels deeply responsible to him and the family. When Werther meets Lotte, he doesn’t know she has already been promised in marriage to an older man who will help the family survive.
In his passion, Werther woos Lotte. Tempted, but realistic, she refuses him. Shattered by her rejection, he falls into deep depression and finds temporary solace in writing. His letters to a friend constitute the substance of Goethe’s novella. Werther concludes the only way out of his grinding despair is to kill himself.
When Massenet completed the opera in 1892, he was unable to persuade the Paris Opera House to stage it. “Too serious,” was the reply. So, the composer and his creative partners went to Germany and Vienna where performances were mounted before the year ended. Soon thereafter, “Werther” was scheduled in Geneva, and due to its popularity, Paris finally reconsidered.
In 1894, the American premiere took place in Chicago with the MET’s company followed by performances in New York City.
The new MET production has been conceived by the well-regarded British director Richard Eyre. Former head of the National Theatre in London, he brings a strong sense of theatricality to the MET’s new “Werther.” Costumes and sets will look like a traditional production as Eyre stays within Massenet’s 1890 time frame. But his ingenious addition of a silent scene during the overture illuminates the story. Behind a scrim, the mother’s sudden death and Lotte’s promise to marry for security – not love – is made clear.
jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, artist and critic.
If you go
The MET: Live in HD will present Jules Massenet’s “Werther,” at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Vallecito Room of the Fort Lewis College Student Union.
Based on Goethe’s novella “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” the opera features Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, in a new production conceived by British Director Richard Eyre. Tickets: $23 general, $21 seniors, students and MET members. Available online at www.durangoconcerts.com, by phone at 247-7657, at the Welcome Center at Eighth Street and Main Avenue or at the door. Note: Surcharges may apply.
Running time: 3 hours, 15 minutes. Sung in French with English subtitles.
