About the opera
- Run time: 2hrs 30min, 1 intermission
- Sung in: French
- Subtitles: English, German
- Opera house: Vienna State Opera
Based on Goethe’s novella, Werther is one of opera’s greatest depictions of impossible love. A sensation when it appeared in 1774, it tells the story of a melancholy poet whose love for a married woman and general disaffection with the world lead to his suicide. The archetype of the artistic, brilliant, and doomed young man rebelling against the establishment has resonated through the ages in literature, theater, film, and music.
Ticket information
- Select a date an book
- E-Ticket (Print@home)
Vienna State Opera
Opernring 2, 1010 Vienna View in Google Maps
How to get there:
Subway: U1, U2, U4 to Karlsplatz
Trams: 1, 2, D, 62, 71 to Opernring
Conductor Bertrand de Billy
Werther Matthew Polenzani
Albert Clemens Unterreiner
Charlotte Kate Lindsey
Sophie Florina Ilie
Jules Massenet (1842–1912) was the leading French composer of his time, noted for his operas, oratorios, ballets and songs. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 11, and in 1863 won France's top musical prize, the Prix de Rome. Massenet’s style lost popularity in the early 20th century, with only Manon and Werther maintaining a place in the international opera repertoire.
The libretto, provided by the team Édouard Blau (1836–1906), Paul Milliet (1855–1924), and Georges Hartmann (1843–1900), is loosely based on Goethe’s novel The sorrows of young Werther (1774).
