Jules Massenet - Werther - Monarda Music

Live from the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, 2007

"Libretto"
by Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet, Georges Hartmann

"Musik"
Badische Staatskapelle
Conductor: Daniel Carlberg
Children chorus of the Helmholtz Gymnasium
Chorus Master: Waltraud Kutz

"Darsteller"
Werther - Keigh Ikaia-Purdy
Albert - Armin Kolarczyk
Le Bailli - Tero Hannula
Schmidt - Andreas Heideker
Johann - Mika Kares
Brühlmann - Gideon Poppe
Charlotte - Silvia Hablowetz
Sophie - Ina Schlingensiepen
Käthchen - Clara Lim

It was the first performed at Vienna's Hofoper on 16 February 1892, its composer having turned Goethe's story into a psychological drama in which the inner feelings of its characters become the driving force behind the action. The music of Werther is full of sublime characterisation, its beguiling melodies revealing profound insights into the complex states of mind of the protagonists. Without ignoring his debt to Richard Wagner, Massenet's score follows firmly in the tradition of Georges Bizet. It is generally regarded as the composer's masterpiece.