Werther

Bastille Opera, Paris

December 5, 2009, 1:00 pm

Composer: Jules Massenet
Conductor: Kent Nagano

Cast: Rolando Villazon (Werther); Susan Graham (Charlotte); Adriana Kucerova (Sophie); Ludovic Tezier (Albert); Alain Vernhes (Le Bailli)

This one might be considered Massenet's "other opera." His Manon is certainly more famous, but Werther is surely worthy of wider attention than it gets. Based on an influential early novel by Goethe, the opera is the story of a man whose lost love proves more vital to him than life itself.

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