WERTHER
Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912)
Opera in four acts in French [Sung in Italian]
Libretto: Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet, Georges Hartmann after Goethe’s novelPremièr at Staatsoper, Vienna – 16 February 1892
23† April 1955
Auditorium RAI, Milano
Orchestra della RAI
di Milano
Conductor: Alfredo SimonettoChorus master: Roberto Bengalio
Director: Daniele d’Anza
Scene and costumes: Casa d'Arte di Firenze
Werther a poet JUAN ONCINA tenor
Albert a young man ENZO SORDELLO baritoneThe Magistrate MARCELLO CORTIS bass
Schmidt friend of the Magistrate MARIO CARLIN tenor
Johann friend of the Magistrate NESTOTE CATALINI baritone
Charlotte the Magistrate’s daughter LEYLA GENCER soprano [Role debut]
Sophie her sister SANDRA BALLINARI soprano
Katchen ELSA ALBERTI soprano
Bruhlmann WALTER ARTIOLI tenor
Time: about 1780
Place: Frankfurt
† Recording date
Note: The production broadcast by RAI-TV Italiana
Photos © PHOTOFILM TREVISIO ERMINIO, Torino
RADIOCORRIERE.TV
1955 April 17 - 22
CORRIERE DELLA SERA
1955.04.27
RADIOCORRIERE.TV
1955 September 04 - 10
STATE THEATER MAGAZINE
1955 November
COMPLETE RECORDING
1955.04.23
Recording Excerpts [1955.04.23]
Dividerci dobbiam (Il faut nous séparer) Act I
Mio Werther Ah! Werther (Werther! Werther ... Qui m'aurait dit la place) Act III Scene I
Werther! ... Chi parlo (Werther! Rien!.. Qui parla) Finale Act IV Scene I
FROM CD BOOKLET
WERTHER
Leyla Gencer and Werther, early a discovery or better, three.
The first was hers. When it was proposed to her, she didn’t like it; with some prejudices, because the title and the success belonged to the tenor. It was 1954, the Italian RAI television (studio in Milan), at its very start, was programming one of the first television operas for the coming season. And the career of Leyla Gencer, at its beginning, was taking off with outstanding soprano roles: Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Tosca. However, Tullio Serafin, a wise point of reference in the Italian beginning, succeeded in convincing her. “I understand how Werther as an opera and specially the part of Charlotte does not suit your temperament but you should force yourself to loving it because one cannot interpret a character that one does not love” (Palermo, 9 April 1954)
