Faust, an aged philosopher, has becomedisillusioned and frustrated in his quest to find thesecrets of the universe: in his despair, he decidesto end his life by taking poison. Mephistopheles,the devil, appears before him, offering him youthand a young maiden in return for his soul.Mephistopheles conjures up the irresistible visionof the beautiful Marguerite, and Faust accepts hisdiabolical offer.
Aided by the wiles of Mephistopheles, Faustsuccessfully courts Marguerite and they both fallin love. Later Marguerite believes that Faust hasabandoned and betrayed her: she becomes insane,kills her child, and is imprisoned, awaiting deathfor infanticide. While in prison, Faust urges her toescape with him, however the delirious Margueritedies. Faust is drawn to the underworld byMephistopheles as Marguerite is borne to heavenby angels.
Principal Characters in the Opera
Faust TenorMephistopheles BaritoneMarguerite SopranoWagner BaritoneValentin, a soldier, Marguerite’s brother BaritoneSiebel, student of Faust Mezzo-sopranoMartha, Marguerite’s neighbor Contralto
Townspeople, soldiers, students, chorus ofdemons, and chorus of angels
TIME:: 16th century
PLACE: Germany
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Story Narrative with Music Highlights
ACT I - Scene 1: Faust’s Study
Faust is an aged philosopher, alchemist, andpractitioner of the magic arts. But life and thepursuit of knowledge have disillusioned him; hehas become frustrated and despairing because thesecrets of the universe remain an unsolved riddle.
J’ai langui, triste et solitaire,
Old, brooding, and weary of life, he decides toend his life with suicide. He fills a goblet withpoison, raises it to his lips, but hesitates when hehears young maidens cheerfully singing from thestreet, reminding him of the beauty of nature andits inspirations. As he raises the cup again, hepauses to listen to the song of the reapers going tothe fields, hymning their gratitude to God. Hisbitterness increases, and in rage and envy, heinvokes Satan.
Faust trembles with fright after sudden flashesof light reveal the gallantly attired archfiend: thedevil Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles offers Faustgold and power, but they are declined: Faust onlycraves youth with its desires, passions, anddelights.
À moi les plaisirs,
Mephistopheles promises to fulfill Faust’sdesires for youth and love in exchange for his soul,his compact specifying that, “On earth I will beyour servant, below, you shall wait on me.”
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Faust hesitates, but when Mephistophelesconjures up the glowing vision of Marguerite ather spinning wheel, he becomes conquered bypassion and desire. Rapturously, he addresses thevision of the beautiful Marguerite: O merveille.“O wonder.”
Faust has decided to pawn his soul. He seizesMephistophele’s potion and raises it, toasting thevision of the beautiful Marguerite. Suddenly, Faustundergoes a magical transformation: his gray beardand scholarly garb disappear, and he has becomean elegantly clad, young and handsome cavalier.Faust and Mephistopheles leave in search ofMarguerite, pleasure, and adventure.
Scene 2: A public Square in the town
A crowd of students, soldiers, and burghersgather to celebrate the Kermesse, the village fair.Soldiers prepare to go off to war, and the crowdprays for a victory and their speedy return.
A soldier, Marguerite’s brother Valentin,implores his friend Siebel, in love with his sister,to protect her while he is away.
Avant de quitter ces lieux,
Wagner, a student, begins to sing a lively song,but Mephistopheles interrupts him with animpudent and sinister hymn praising greed andgold, a blasphemous invocation of Mammon andthe Calf of Gold.
Le veau d’or est toujours debout,
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Mephistopheles accepts a cup of wine, but itis not to his taste, and he amazes the crowd bycausing new wine to flow from an old keg. Whenhe makes a toast to Marguerite, the protectiveValentin draws his sword, but the devil causes itto shatter, protecting himself in a magic circle hehas created. The soldiers, realizing that the strangerpossesses the powers of the devil, confrontMephistopheles with their swords raised in acruciform.
Chorus of Swords
Mephistopheles becomes powerless and recoilsin terror, departing with ominous threats: “Weshall meet again.”
Marguerite appears, reading her prayer bookas she returns from church. Siebel yearns for herlove but he is impeded by the diabolicMephistopheles.
Faust becomes enamored with Marguerite. Heapproaches her and respectfully offers to join herand escort her home. Confused and blushing,Marguerite refuses. As she walks on, Faust watchesher with passion, murmuring that he has indeedfallen in love with her. Mephistopheles observesthat Faust seems coy and inexperienced, andcyncially suggests that Faust will need his expertaid in winning Marguerite.
The crowd resumes the Kermesse Waltz, thesquare animated with whirling dancers lost incarefree gaiety.
Kermesse Waltz
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ACT II: The garden before Marguerite’s house
Siebel visits Marguerite’s house and leaves abouquet of flowers at the threshhold. Faust andMephistopheles appear, and Faust becomesoverwhelmed by the beauty of her humbledwelling.
Salut! demeure chaste et pure!
Mephistopheles returns and replaces Siebel’sflowers with a casket of jewels. Marguerite sits ather spinning wheel and sings a ballad about theKing of Thulé, a romantic legend about a king whomade a cup of gold for the woman he loved,however, she continually interrupts her song, herthoughts returning to the stranger she met at theKermesse.
Le Roi di Thulé
Marguerite notices the box of jewels andbecomes dazzled by their brilliance, exploding intogirlish rapture and delight as she adorns herselfwith the treasures.
The Jewel Song
Mephistopheles appears and gallantly salutesboth Marguerite and her guardian, Martha, flirtingand drawing her away so that Faust can becomemore intimate with Marguerite. Mephistopheles
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invokes an evil incantation, calling upon thepowers of evil to inspire Marguerite with passion,his diabolical design to capture Marguerite’s soul.
As night falls, Marguerite and Faust are alone.Marguerite confesses her love for Faust, and thenewfound lovers passionately echo their eternallove for each other.
Laissemoi, laissemoi, contempler visage,
O nuit d’amour! ciel radieux!
Marguerite is suddenly overcome withmaidenly scruples and urges Faust to leave. Shethrows him a kiss, and runs to her house, promisingto meet him the following day.
Faust and Mephistopheles both watch andlisten to Marguerite as she soliloquizes from herwindow about the rapture of the night, Margueritecrying out to Faust, “hurry back to me mybeloved.” Faust rushes to her, and she sinks intohis arms. While the lovers are ecstaticallyembraced, Mephistopheles, the arch-fiend, laughstriumphantly and sardonically.
ACT III - Scene 1: A church
Marguerite believes that Faust betrayed andabandoned her: in a moment of hysterical madness,she killed their child. All have spurned her, andfilled with guilt and fear for her salvation, sheenters the church to pray and repent for her sins,and for Faust.
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In the church, a voice from the shadows criesout, “No, you shall pray no more. You shall not beforgiven”: it is Mephistopheles condemning herto hell; “Farewell, nights of love. Marguerite, yoursoul is damned,” Mephistopheles tormentingMarguerite with curses and threats. Crying indespair, Marguerite collapses and falls prostrateto the ground.
Prayer: Seigneur! accueilez la prière,
Scene 2: A square outside the Church
In the town square, Valentin and his comradeshave returned from war and praise those heroeswho were slain in battle.
Soldiers Chorus: Gloire immortelle De nos aïeux,
The sinister Mephistopheles and his pupil Faustapproach. Faust is torn by remorse and shame,realizing that he brings only disaster in his wake.Mockingly, Mephistopheles sings an insulting andribald serendade to Marguerite, each stanza endingwith a taunting and sarcastic laugh.
Serenade: Vous qui faites l’endormie,
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Valentin steps forth to defend his sister’s honor.With sword raised, he challenges Faust to a duel,the man he condemns as responsible forMarguerite’s fall from innocence. Mephistophelesintercedes in their duel, applying his devil’s magicto guide Faust’s sword: Valentin falls, mortallywounded.
As Mephistopheles drags Faust away,Marguerite finds her dying brother, who, in his lastbreath, harshly curses his sister for the shame andtragedy her love for Faust has brought them.Marguerite falls before her dying brother, sobbingfrenziedly. As Valentin dies, the crowd prays forpeace for his soul.
ACT IV - Scene 1: In the Harz Mountains
In search of further adventure, Mephistophelesbrings Faust to witness the revels of WalpurgisNight, a festival, according to medieval legend,that was held of the eve of the first of May in theHarz Mountains. In a gruesome scene, witches anddemons participate in an orgy of wanton revelryinvoking evil.
Mephistopheles summons the famouscourtesans of history to appear before them;visions of Thaïs, Cleopatra, and Helen of Troy.Suddenly an apparition of Marguerite appears,crushed as if by the blow of an axe: Faust demandsthat Mephistopheles take him to Marguerite.
Scene 2: A prison.
Marguerite, her mind shattered by guilt, awaitsexecution for infanticide. Mephistopheles arriveswith Faust who has come to rescue her. Faust andMarguerite reminisce dreamily and tenderly oftheir first meeting at the Kermesse, and their trystin the garden. Faust frantically urges her to escapewith him, but he is unable to reason with her raving,broken mind.
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Mephistopheles calls out impatiently that theymust hurry. Marguerite rises, stands transfixed asshe recognizes the archfiend, and calls to God forprotection. As she prays, she envisions heaven andforgiveness.
Anges purs, anges radieux,
Marguerite’s last words to Faust damn himforever: “Why those bloody hands? They fill mewith horror.” Mephistopheles exults, assured thathe has captured Marguerite’s soul and she iscondemned to hell. Marguerite falls lifeless to theground.
A a chorus of celestial voices chant the Easterhymn, “Christ is risen!”, announcing thatMarguerite has been redeemed. The Apotheosis –the deification of Marguerite - vividly contraststhe opposing forces of good and evil. In a gloriouschoir of seraphic voices, Marguerite’s tormentedsoul is borne to heaven as Faust falls to his kneesin prayer. Mephistopheles seizes Faust and dragshim off to further perdition.
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Gounod………………………………and Faust
Charles François Gounod (1818-1893), was amajor figure in nineteenth century French
opera: his most famous work, Faust, whichpremiered in 1859.
Gounod’s father, who died when Charles wasstill a child, had been a painter and winner of thesecond Prix de Rome. The composer’s mother,familiar with the hardships of an artistic life,reluctantly taught her son the piano. Gounod wouldlater study music at the Paris Conservatoire underthe French composer Jacques François Halévy, thecomposer of some 20 operas, his most well-known,the inspired grand masterwork, La Juive. In 1839,at the age of 21, like his father, Charles won theGrand Prix de Rome that enabled him to study inItaly where he developed a passionate interest inchurch and sacred music.
Gounod was eternally in conflict between thescared and the mundane, vacillating betweenspiritualism and the enjoyments of luxury andpleasure. He studied theology for two years andabstained from holy orders only when convincedhe could succeed in a musicalal career, anexplanation in part why most of his later workspossess ecclesiastical themes.
Upon his return to Paris from Rome, he becamea church organist, and indulged in the writing ofreligious choral music. At the same time, hecomposed his first opera, Sapho, produced in 1851,a failure that did not deter him from furtherpursuing operatic composition. In 1858, heachieved success with the light opera, Le MédecinMalgré Lui, “The Doctor in Spite of Himself,”based on a comedy by the French playwrightMolière.
Between 1852 and 1860, Gounod directed theOrphéon, a Parisian choral society, furtherstimulating his profound interest in religious andchoral music: it was then that he became inspiredto compose the celebrated Ave Maria, based on aprelude by Johann Sebastian Bach, as well asseveral masses, oratorios, motets, and hymns.
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Gounod’s fame, however, rests on his fourthopera, Faust, (1859), based on a portion ofGoethe’s famous play in verse. Faust madeGounod world famous, and although he wrote eightother operas thereafter, only two remain successful:Mireille (1864), and Roméo et Juliette (1867).
Volumes have been written about the genesisof the legendary story of Faust, the
philosopher and magician who made a sinistercompact with the devil, Mephistopheles. Thelegend itself derives from antiquity and myth, muchof it buried in historical obscurity. Nevertheless,the tale entered popular literature transmitted orallythrough the centuries, and later, through ballads,puppet plays, and the drama.
The Medieval world was consumed by theChristian path to salvation, possessed byimmortality and the conflict between heaven, hell,and damnation. Humanity’s energies seemundaunted in their ability to conjure up images ofdiabolical forces: man’s myth-making capacity isboundless, only requiring an imaginative stimulantto bring it to consciousness. Many elements ofthe Faust legend are found in works whichcaptivated the medieval imagination: men oflearning and accomplishment were deemednecromancers or dealers in the black arts, andbondsmen of the infernal powers; among the many,Zoroaster, Democritus, Empedocles, Apollinaris,Virgil, Albert Magnus, Merlin, and Páracelsus.
In the sixth century, Theophilus of Syracusesupposedly sold himself to the devil, saved fromdamnation only by the miraculous intervention ofthe Virgin Mary, and architects of cathedrals andengineers of bridges were rumored to have barteredtheir souls in order that their great conceptionsmight find realization.
In recent centuries, the superstitious peasantryof Bavaria envisioned that the engineer who ranthe first locomotive engine through that countrywas in league with the devil; they also conceivedthe notion that the Prussian machine-gun whichhad wrought such horrible destruction to their
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soldiers, was an infernal machine for whichBismarck had traded the immortal part of himselfto the devil; Poland had its popular tales ofwizardry and black magic in the legend of PanTwardowsky; and in Bohemia, a legend recountedthe nefarious adventures of Cyto. All of thesewizards were formidable practitioners of the blackarts.
It is widely believed that the real Dr. JohannFaustus was a native of Würtemberg who was a
practitioner of the magical arts toward the end ofthe fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenthcenturies: he made a compact with the devilMephistopheles, performed many miraculous feats,and died a horrible death. The legend recounts thathe was initially poor, but money inherited from arich uncle enabled him to attend the University ofCracow where he seems to have devoted himselfwith particular assiduity to the study of magic; thatart, or science, at that time having a quasi-respectability in the curriculum. After obtaininghis degree, he traveled about Europe practicingnecromancy and acquiring a reputation as afiendish sorcerer who would boasted that hismagic arts had enabled the imperial armies to wintheir victories; nevertheless, he was abominatedand his soul considered lost beyond all hope.
The earliest known account of Faust in printwas written by Johann Spies: Faustus, publishedin Frankfurt in 1587. Shortly thereafter, in 1590,an English translation of the entire Spies taleappeared, becoming the source from whichMarlowe drew his stage play The Tragical Historyof Dr. Faustus, printed in 1604. In Spies’s renditionof the story, Faustus expresses a wish to marry,but Mephistopheles refuses to permit him to do soon the ground that marriage is something pleasingto God, and therefore, foreign to the terms of theircontract. Mephistopheles says: “Hast thou swornthyself an enemy to God and to all creatures? Tothis I answer thee, thou canst not marry, thou canstnot serve two masters, God and thy prince. Forwedlock is a chief institution ordained of God, and
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that thou hast promised to defy as we do all, andthat hast thou not only done, but moreover thouhast confirmed it with thy blood. Persuade thyselfthat what thou dost in contempt of wedlock, it isall to thine own delight. Therefore, Faustus, lookwell about thee, and bethink thyself better, and Iwish thee to change thy mind, for if thou keep notwhat thou hast promised in thy writing, we willtear thee in pieces like the dust under thy feet.Therefore, sweet Faustus, think with what unquietlife, anger, strife and debate thou shalt live in whenthou takest a wife. Therefore, change thy mind.”
In Spies’s story, Faustus accedes toMephistopheles but very shortly summons his spiritand demands the devil’s consent to marry. Spiessportrayed the devil as a dreadful, ugly monsterwhom Faustus dared not look directly at. Suddenly,punishing Faustus, Mephistopheles conjures up awhirlwind that fills the house with fire and smoke,hurling Faustus about until he is motionless. Thedevil then facetiously asks Faustus: “How likestthou thy wedding?”, Faustus promising never tomention marriage again, and becoming more thancontent to accept Mephistopheles promise to bringhim any woman, alive or dead, whom he maypossess if he so desires; thus, Helen of Troy isbrought back from the netherworld to becomeFaustus’s paramour. In Spiess’s story, Helen has ason called Justus Faustus, but after Faustus dies,mother and child vanish.
In the Polish version of the legend, Faustus isrepresented by Twardowsky who has the privilegeof demanding three requests of the devil. Afterenjoying the benefits conferred by two, like theSpiess legend, he asks the devil’s permission tomarry. The devil is unwilling and breaks thecompact, freeing Twardowsky. It is this Polishversion of the legend that may have inspiredThackeray’s amusing tale, The Painter’s Bargain.New versions of the legend followed each otherrapidly, and the Faust story eventually became thefavorite subject of 19th century Romanticplaywrights and poets.
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Toward the end of the eighteenth century,Goethe conceived the idea of utilizing the
Faust subject as the basis for his comprehensivephilosophy about human life, his final literarysynthesis between poetry, philosophy, and religion.But while Goethe was working on his Faust,literary versions, musical pantomine, and puppetplays of the legend were appearing simultaneously:Galliard’s Harlequin Faustus in 1715; Phanty’s Dr.Faust’s Zaubergurtel in 1790; and Walter’s Dr.Faust, in 1797.
Goethe published the first part of hisadventures of the legendary necromancer in 1808;the second part published posthumously in 1833.After Goethe’s monumental treatment of thelegend, librettists, composers and poets, pursuedthe folk-tale and legend with boundlessenthusiasm: Spohr’s opera, Faust (1818), stillperformed today on the German stage, but knownin America primarily through the recital stage song,Die stille Naclit entweiclit; Boito’s Mefistofele(1868), an attempt to cover the entirephantasmagoria of both parts of Goethe’svoluminous play; Rietz’s Faust ( I836); an Englishversion by Bishop, Faustus (1827), with a Frenchversion (1831), and a Brussels version (1834);Donizetti’s Fausta (1831); Gordigiano’s Fausto(1837); Raimondi’s Fausto Arrivo (1837);Verstowsky’s Russian version, Pan Twardowsky(1831); and Zaitz’s Polish version, Twardowsky(1880). Even the 20th century Marxists carried thelegend a step further and staged Faust in satiricmodern guise, the hero, an American millionairewho sold his soul to the Devil and ;ovedsumptuously in a Berlin hotel.
The subject has copiously served as the basisfor cantatas, overtures, and symphonies, inspiringmusic from such composers as Kreutzer, Reissiger,Pierson, Lassen, and Prince Radziwill; but theircompositions do little more than illustrate the truthof the old adage that “Fools rush in where angelsfear to tread.” Schumann composed concert musicon the subject, Wagner composed the FaustOverture, and Liszt, the Faust symphony: allrepresent specific portions of the tragedytransformed into musical language.
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Gounod’s choice of the Faust subject reflectedhis profound admiration for the poetry of the
great German Romanticist, Johann Wolfgang vonGoethe. While in his early twenties, his favoriteamusement was reading Goethe’s Faust.
Gounod reveals in his autobiographicalsketches, that he personally proposed Faust as anoperatic subject to the librettists, Jules Barbier andMichel Carré, the idea so favorably impressingthem that they immediately brought the project tothe director of the Théâtre Lyrique, M. LeonCarvalho.
Carvalho was intrigued with Gounod’s idea ofa Faust opera, but in deference to the thenundisputed “king” of French opera, Meyerbeer, heoffered him the first opportunity to write the opera.Meyerbeer declined, refusing to consider a subjecthe deemed sacred, what he termed the Ark of theCovenant, a sanctuary not to be approachedthrough the profanity of music. Meyerbeer’srefusal to write music for an operatic version ofFaust complements the artistic conscience of theman who has been charged more often and morevirulently than any other opera composer in historywith a willingness to pander to stagesensationalism. Nevertheless, in operatic hindsight,it would be more truthful to conclude thatMeyerbeer knew well his inability to write the kindof music which Goethe’s tragedy required.Assuming the story to be true, Meyerbeer’s honestyis admirable, particularly the dignity with whichhe gave expression to what he called the Ark ofthe Covenant.
However, there was indeed one composer whowas fit to cope with the awesome task of writingdramatic music worthy of a marriage with Goethe’svast creation; that composer was Beethoven.Likewise, Beethoven was hesitant to profane theGoethe sanctuary, although for one short momentat least, the thought occupied his mind.
In his book, Für Freunde der Tonkunst,Rochlitz relates that in the summer of 1822 hecarried a commission to Beethoven from Breitkopfand Härtel, the Leipzig Publishers, for Faust music“in the manner of the Egmont overture.”Beethoven had met Goethe at Carlsbad, and ever
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since, had been reading his poetry daily. Beethovendivined Goethe, believing that its prose elevatedthe soul, and sincerely believed that the master’swords were written for music; “Goethe sees, allhis readers see with him, and that was the reasonone could appropriately put his words to music. “
Nevertheless, at that particular time, Beethovenwas immersed in gigantic tasks he had alreadyundertaken: two symphonies, and an oratorioundertaken for the Handel and Haydn Society ofBoston that never came to fruition. In the end, hispreoccupations yielded the Ninth Symphony, buthe never penned a note containing a Faust theme..
Librettist Carré is reputed to have hadreservations about Gounod’s Faust project,
reasoning that he had recently produced Faust etMarguerite, a three-act play fashioned after Goethethat was moderately successful at the Gymnase-Dramatique in 1850. But after Barbier laid outhis scenario, Carré was won over, and the librettoteam enthusiastically started writing Gounod’sFaust text. It was unanimously agreed that theopera would avoid much of Goethe’s profoundreligious and philosophical context, and only dealwith the love story and romance between Faustand Marguerite.
Gounod’s Faust had been scheduled topremiere in November 1857, but Carvalho haltedwork after learning that the prestigious Théâtre St.Martin was about to stage a melodrama based onthe legendary theme; after a short run, that playfolded, and Carvalho authorized Gounod and hislibrettists to move forward.
Rehearsals started in September, 1858, andwere continuously buried in difficulties. Therewere severe tensions between the librettists anddirectors of the Théâtre-Lyrique, the librettistsstruggling to keep their most original ideas frombecoming excised: the censors threatened toremove the dramatic church scene confrontationbetween Marguerite and Mephistopheles, fearingrepercussions from a scene they deemed offensiveduring a period when relations between France and
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the papacy were strained. The pressures of thebattle affected the usually calm Barbier profoundly,and it is rumored that he stayed home the night ofthe premiere because he was suffering fromnervous exhaustion.
The tenor featured in the title role of Faust wasHector Bruyer, a singer possessing a charmingvoice, an attractive physique, but unable to sustainthe weight of the role; just one month before thepremiere he was replaced by Barbot, a veteran fromthe Opéra-Comique roster. It is rumored thatGounod himself, reputed to have had a beautifulvoice that he was decidedly fond of exhibiting,had seriously considered the feasibility of singingthe Faust part himself.
The premiere took place on March 19, 1859,ultimately becoming Gounod’s greatest theatricalsuccess, yet at first, not creating a remarkable norsensational impression. A distinguished audienceattended the premiere: Auber, Berlioz,, Reyer,Janin, Perrin, Ollivier, and many other prominentmen who had made their mark in literature, art orpolitics; among the latter, Delacroix, Vernet,Giraud, Pasdeloup, Scudo, Heugel, and Lévy.
It became Mme. Carvalho – the manager’s wifeknown as Madame Ugalde – who carried theperformance by achieving a brilliant success asMarguerite. Gounod concluded that though hervirtuosity and masterly qualities of execution andstyle had already placed her in the front rank ofcontemporary singers, no role until that ofMarguerite had afforded her the opportunity todemonstrate her secure lyric qualities, assuredness,and refinement. Gounod’s praise of his Margueritemay have resulted from an artistic compromisewith the implacable diva: she was reputed to havealtered any opera she participated in to suit herown tastes; no aria was safe from her greedy handsas she loaded melodic lines with her ownarabesques and trills.
Opening night criticism of Faust contained ablend of censure and praise: if it was not a criticalsuccess, neither was it a failure. On the positiveside, the audience considered the opera daring anddifferent, far from a mere succession of pretty
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tunes. Others considered the Soldiers’ Chorus - alast-minute transfer from Gounod’s unfinishedopera Ivan the Terrible – to be a show-stoppingmasterpiece, and others raved at the sublimatedmood and ecstasy of feeling in the Garden Scene.
On the negative side, Germans claimed thatGounod had failed to grasp the larger conceptionof the Goethe epic, even though Gounod’slibrettists admittedly intended to portray only thelove story portion: some felt the third actmonotonous and too long; that the devil did notsummon up the terror felt for the ‘Prince ofDarkness’ in the Middle Ages, his characterization,not more impressive than a conjurer at a children’sparty.
Berlioz, seething with revenge against hisfellow Parisians, had every reason to consolehimself since Gounod’s new Faust, like his owndramatic cantata La damnation de Faust writtenseveral years before in 1846, had beenunappreciated. Nevertheless, Berlioz wasfavorably inclined toward the work and generouslypointed out the new opera’s strengths: the openingmeasures with their fugal evocation of the oldphilosopher’s despair; the first meeting of Faustand Marguerite; the opera’s magnificent delicatebalance between set pieces and recitative; Faust’srapturous Salut! Demeure, and Marguerite’s Roide Thulé and Jewel Song; the ecstatic conclusionof the Garden Scene; the Church Scene; and thepoignancy when the pathetically twisted, but stillrecognizable Marguerite, is cursed by her brother,driving her to the final edge of the mental abyss.In spite of Berlioz’s senthusiasm, few of Gounod’sfriends spoke to him after the premiere, and thosewho did, advised him to modify his advancedmusical style.
Faust found its way into the repertoire slowly.Today, both Frenchmen and Germans seem to
have forgotten that when the Théâtre Lyriquetemporarily folded, and the Opéra-Comique closedits doors to Faust, it was the triumphant receptionthat the opera received in Germany that served as
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a catalyst to bring the work back to France. Duringits premiere year, the opera was given fifty-seventimes at the Théâtre Lyrique. Ten years later, itwas revised to fit the unique patterns and schemesof the Grand Opéra, prompting the addition of theWalpurgisnacht ballet, and Valentin’s aria, Avantde quitter ces lieux.
In retrospect, no opera in the history of the lyrictheater has ever equaled the popularity of Gounod’sFaust. In 1887, twenty-eight years after its firstperformance, Gounod was privileged to join hisfriends in a celebration of its 500th presentation, aproud record, but trivial when it is noted that Fausthad its 1,250th Parisian performance in the summerof 1902. In 1863, the opera had possession of tworival establishments in London: at Her Majesty’sDrury Lane, and at the Royal Italian Opera atCovent Garden. The first American productiontook place at the Academy of Music, New York,in 1863, and in 1883, Faust inaugurated the newMetropolitan Opera at Broadway and thirty-ninthstreet; however, it was sung in Italian. Faust, oncethe most popular opera in the world, approachesits three-thousand-performance mark in Paris. AtCovent Garden, it was performed every seasonfrom 1863 to 1911, and until World War II, it wasa full hundred performances ahead of all the otherworks in its repertory. In Budapest it still tops theperformance totals of any other opera.
After it inaugurated the Metropolitan Opera in1883, it was eventually performed so often thatthe redoubtable critic of the New York Times, W. J.Henderson, dubbed the Met not the Festspielhaus(Bayreuth’s “festival house”), but theFaustspielhaus, “the house where they playFaust.” Italians became enamored with Faust, andit was in Italian that earlier generations invariablyheard it. In Germany, it was performed asMargarethe to distinguish it from their hallowednational treasure, Goethe’s Faust, a work muchmore respected, but also much less oftenperformed; in effect, the title Margarethesymbolically distanced Gounod’s opera fromGoethe’s epic.
Faust is overwhelmingly important in thehistory of operatic singing. It is impossible even
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to think of such great voices of the past as Patti,Melba, Eames, Nordica, the de Reszkes, Plançon,Challiapin, Caruso, di Stefano, and Bjoerling,without thinking of Faust. The renowned MarcelJournet sang Faust’s Mephistopheles reputedlymore than a thousand times, providing thestereotyped image of opera characters as devils inred tights.
Librettists Carré and Barbier dutifully adheredto Goethe’s epic, but confined their story to
the romance between Faust and Marguerite:nevertheless, their essential leitmotif became theepic’s underlying conflict between good and evil;the elderly Faust’s rejuvenation resulting from hisunholy alliance with the Devil.
Gounod’s Faust presents only a small segmentfrom Goethe’s classic, and therefore, could not byany measure of the imagination provide theprofound essence of the total epic. Goethe’s stageplay in verse is immense, and its transformation tothe opera stage transcends the limitations of justone opera: Gounod was certainly not Wagner, andcould not conceive nor compose a work of suchepic complexities as the Ring. Gounod himselfchallenged any comparisons of his work with thewhole of Goethe: he had specifically created a lovestory for which he introduced the inherentaccouterments of music drama; a ballet withclassical figures, and, at the conclusion, theApotheosis, or resurrection chorus. Brahmscynically defended any comparison of Gounod’sFaust with Goethe’s epic: “Any fool can see that!”
Goethe’s Faust was partly autobiographical.As a young student, he loved and abandoned aninnocent girl, his guilt haunting him throughouthis life. But more importantly, Goethe was one ofthe godfathers of German Romanticism of the late18th and early 19th centuries: they were searchingfor a new path to man’s salvation and redemption.Kant inspired the Romanticist’s by placing man,not God, at the center of the universe; as such, oneparticular essence of Romanticism became theconflict and tension between spiritual love andmundane love.
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In the older Faust legends, the underlyingconflict dealt primarily with the moral questionof good versus evil; in the Goethe epic those forcesare represented by the wavering Faust and thediabolical Mephistopheles. Faust bargains with hissoul because he has become defeated, frustrated,and despairing in his relentless crusade to findmeaning in life. His transformation explodes thewar between good and evil: Mephistophelesoverpowers Faust, and evil vanquishes good. Inessence, Goethe’s epic re-mythologized the Bible,using the conflict of good and evil to define thegreat moral questions of life, art, and faith, thatclassic battle between emotion and reason, thespirit and the flesh, and the sacred and the profane.
Although Faust derives from the Medievalconflict between good and evil, or the soul’sstruggle between salvation and eternal damnation,Goethe’s work represented the soul ofRomanticism; a new spiritual quest seeking eternaltruths. But in the end, it posed its conflict in termsof morality, its underlying subtext praising thesupremacy of virtue and morality, and punishingcarnal sin. In the story, woman suffers, but throughher travails she achieves salvation and forgiveness:in Faust, Goethe had introduced the saving,sacrificing woman, the “eternal woman,” la femmeeterne, or ewige weibliche, the female ideal thatultimately obsessed 19th century GermanRomantics.
Many operaphiles relish musico-dramaticcomparisons with Gounod’s operatic
competitors: Berlioz, Boito, and Busoni. InBerlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, the dramaticcantata concludes with a ride into hell and an ascentto heaven, one of the supreme challenges insymphonic and choral literature. In Boito’sMefistofele, a windstorm created by an omnipotentGod defeats Mefistofele, Faust finding salvationin his return to God. In Busoni’s Doktor Faust,Faust resurrects his dead child, and dying himself,breathes life into the child’s body. All threeconclusions are dramatically compelling,
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suggesting the spiritual conflicts of the soul thatGoethe found in the old myth and applied to his19th century quest for eternal truth.
Likewise, Gounod’s conclusion providesdazzling music drama: the trio in which thevictimized Marguerite triumphs over her unfaithfullover and the forces of evil, and the soaring andclimactic Anges Purs that precedes the finalApotheosis; these represent musico-dramaticmoments approaching spiritual transcendence,written by a composer whose entire life, like thatof Faust, vacillated between spiritualism andearthly gratification.
Gounod was a supreme master of lyricism. Thefamous Act II Garden Scene contains a series ofthe most elegant arias and duets that wereunparalleled and unprecedented for their grace andloveliness: until Wagner wrote Tristan und Isolde,the Garden Scene in Faust was considered thequintessence of sensuous romanticism in opera;after Wagner, it can seem almost impossibly small-scaled. Nevertheless, Faust was originallyconceived, and first performed, as an opéracomique; that is, a small-scaled opera with spokendialogue. Although sung recitatives were addedfor Strasbourg and ten years later theWalpurgisnacht ballet was inserted to satisfy thedemands of the Paris Opera, Faust remained inessence what it was designed to be: an intimaterather than spectacle opera.
Gounod’s Faust had inherent appeal inVictorian England’s world of propriety; legendspeaks of Queen Victoria, old, weak, and sick justbefore her death, summoning a group of Frenchsingers to hear pieces from Gounod’s Faust, andsmiling whenever she recognized a familiar tune.
Gounod introduced his characteristically Gallicgifts for melody into opera. He was a supreme
melodist, the creator of a refined and expressivelyricism that he supported with sensitive harmonyand expert orchestration. His opera music is notedfor its lyric quality, its charm, and its lovely andfresh melodic invention, music containing a light
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and dripping sentimentality that is easy on the earlike golden syrup. Because his music is restrained,sensitive, delicate, and filled with human values,it remains quite apart from the more ornate grandopera spectacles of Meyerbeer and his emulators.
Though Gounod undertook the operaticmedium reluctantly, and enjoyed few real successesoutside of Faust, the opera remains the high-watermark of French romanticism: Gounod invented thatvery special style called the French lyrique. Theessence of the new school became not epic butlyric, not thematic but melodic, not heroic butpurely and passionately personal. This new Frenchlyrique eventually evolved to impart a new auraof dignity to the subject of its actions, portrayingintense personal relationships, strongly markedpersonalities, and profound human passions; theantithesis of grand opera’s cardboard charactersand marching processions in those spectacles ofHalévy, Meyerbeer, and Auber.
More importantly, Faust and its supremelyricism rejuvenated French opera: it was athoroughly modern work for its time, composedin Gounod’s new lyrique style that wouldultimately become the defining voice of Frenchmusical aesthetics for the entire 19th century. Greatpractitioners of Gounod’s new school of Frenchlyricism followed him with zeal: Saint-Saëns,Bizet, and Massenet.
Unlike his contemporaries, Bizet and Halévy,Gounod lacked the instincts for dramatic intensity:even his best works are generally considered weakand dramatically unconvincing. Nevertheless, oneof his greatest attributes was to gradually build ascene to lyric intensity and end with a coup detheatre. Particularly in Faust, there is power andbeauty in its music, and there is a profound contrastof human drama juxtaposed against fantasy andsorcery, but each scene concludes with brillianttheatrical effects.
Antagonists of Faust will argue vociferouslythat the character of Marguerite approaches thatof a society debutante; that Mephistopheles istinged with shades of Leporello; and that Faust islittle more than a lovesick cavalier. And, by
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sublimating Goethe’s profound transcendentalsignificance and dealing solely with theMarguerite-Faust romance, Gounod surrendered toexcessive sentimentality, its musical style elegantbut mostly saccharine. Indeed, Faust is saturatedwith Gounod’s special lyrical qualities and subtleGallic sensitivities: it possesses a preponderanceof melody and a succession of old-fashioned,operatic Hit Parade songs, which, to many, stillremains the essence of the operatic art form.
Nevertheless, Faust indeed contains momentsof effective, dramatic intensity: Valentin’s death,and its theatrically vivid contrast between hisintolerance and the inherent morality of themajority; the church tableau that brilliantly capturesMarguerite’s isolation through its background oforgan preludes and chant-like choral writing,Mephistopheles cynical laughter at the conclusionproviding the ultimate dramatic contrast. And theconcluding Anges purs, anges radieux that isultimately united with the Apotheosis representssheer spectacle and is unquestionably the dramaticcoup of the entire opera.
Faust was a brave and forward-looking work:in its day, it refined, perhaps even redefined,
the overblown Meyerbeerian concept of Frenchopera. Faust set a precedent for integrating musicwith the nuanced inflections of the Frenchlanguage, scaling down dialogue to intimatemoments resembling conversation; for Marguerite,Gounod virtually created a style of music – andsinging - that nurtured the species of soprano nowknown as lyric; the magnificent lyricism and unityof the Garden Scene influenced an entire centuryof French music, such as the stage works of Bizet,Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Delibes, and Lalo, as wellas the instrumental music of Franck, Fauré, andD’Indy.
The greatness of Faust remains its astonishingmelodic inventiveness: the opera contains someof the most beautifully crafted, sensuous, andluminously scored music ever written, melodiesthat delicately etch their characters and remainfixed in memory. Faust is a superbly realized
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drama, greatly appreciated in its day, and composedby a master lyricist whose melodic legacies inspiredgenerations of French opera composers.
As such, Faust is an indispensable opera, areminder that new currents and trends arise inopera, and there are certainly vastly moreintelligible and cohesive opera dramas. However,Faust is firmly rooted to the opera stage; its devotedaudiences continually hypnotized by Gounod’slyric splendor, music that seems to becomeengraved in memory not only after the curtain falls,but endures for eternity.
