Werther in the Wiener Staatsoper Production of Massenet’s Werther

After watching the Production of Massenet’s Werther at the Wiener Staatsoper, I am really excited to see it myself in March! It was really interesting to see how the characters were able to take the words I read from the Libretto and turn them into a story filled with passion and sadness. I focussed a lot of my attention on Werther’s character in the opera because I wanted to analyze how his character develops over time.

I feel like in the beginning of the opera Werther is probably the happiest that I see him throughout the rest of it. He is going to the dance with Charlotte and I think that it’s in the exact moment of seeing her give the children food and take care of them that he realized he wanted more than just this night with her. He fell in love with her in that moment and I think all of his goals just became related to that relationship. He wanted to not only be with her but to make her the happiest woman in the world and show her how amazing she is. Ultimately, I believe his goals were to make her happy by being with her and having a mutually loving relationship, but it takes two to make that goal attainable.

While I think Albert’s presence is one of the most obvious things that gets in the way of Werther achieving his goals and being with Charlotte, I think there is an underlying impediment that is working to do the same thing. Charlotte gave her mother her word that she would marry Albert before her mom died, and Charlotte will not break this promise no matter what – even if it means she is sad and lonely for the rest of her life. I think that Charlotte still has a lot to work through emotionally from her mother’s death, and her way of holding onto her mother’s memory and presence is by holding this promise no matter what the consequences are. I obviously didn’t get to see Charlotte’s mother’s character to know her well, but I would assume that if her mother could be there to see her depressed and alone married to Albert, she wouldn’t deny her daughter’s love for Werther.

I think that one of the goals that truly remains the same throughout this story for Werther is that he just wants to make Charlotte happy, even if it means sacrificing his own happiness. When Charlotte tells Werther that he has to leave for awhile he is clearly upset about it and by no means actually wants to be apart from her, but he does it anyways. One way that Werther definitely still tries to attain his goals of being with Charlotte despite her telling him to leave is by sending her those letters. In sending those letters, he speaks of his sadness and love for her and I think that part of him is trying to make Charlotte pity him and ask him to return. I think that the goal of the letters is also to make sure Charlotte doesn’t forget him or the love that she feels for him deep down even if she won’t yet admit it.

When Werther does return on Christmas as Charlotte had originally told him to, he has clearly reached a breaking point. He still wants to make Charlotte happy and he still wants her to choose him – to leave her husband who has made her nothing but sad and come be with him. I think he can see how much Charlotte loves him in that scene, but she still refuses to show it and denies him yet again saying she has a husband. I think this is where Werther’s goals really change. As much as he wants to make Charlotte happy and love her, he is filled with so much sadness and pain. He has sacrificed so much for charlotte and he has been tortured by her not being with him and it has all just became too much for him. I think he started thinking about himself more, and his goals became taking care of himself. He didn’t want to suffer anymore and he spoke of how he didn’t think this death would be the end for him.

Werther’s new goal was to end his own life, and to spend his last moment’s with Charlotte. He achieved this goal and he died in her arms, knowing how much she loved him and leaving her no longer with a choice to make. It was clear that Charlotte would rather be with Werther, but I think he could tell how important her promise to her mother was. It was hurting her so much to feel the things she was for Werther because she felt like she was betraying her mother, and Werther made the decision for her. I think Werther died hoping he would bring more happiness and ease to charlotte, and he died in the hope to ease his own pain.