DEALING WITH THE DEVIL
Program Notes by Alan Chapman
Producer/Host, Classical California KUSC
Habe nun, ach! Philosophie,
Juristerei und Medizin,
Und leider auch Theologie
Durchaus studiert, mit heißem Bemühn.
Da steh' ich nun, ich armer Tor,
Und bin so klug als wie zuvor!
These are the first words spoken by the title character of Goethe’s Faust.
He bemoans his situation:
I have studied philosophy, jurisprudence, medicine,
even theology with great effort. Here I stand, a poor fool,
no wiser than before.
Dr. Faustus is ripe for a deal with the devil that will bring him unlimited
knowledge and worldly pleasures. Preceding this scene is a prologue in
heaven in which Mephistopheles makes a bet with God that he can lure
someone away from the path of righteousness. The deal that is struck is
this: If Mephistopheles can bring Faust an experience of true bliss, Faust
will serve him in hell.
Around 1830, a few years before Goethe died, he sadly told a friend that
there was nobody who could write the correct music for Faust. Goethe
thought the music should be in the character of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Mozart, he said, should have composed Faust. But Mozart had been dead
for forty years.
Goethe’s friend suggested Rossini. Goethe came back with the name of
Meyerbeer. In fact, there would come a time when a French librettist would
approach Meyerbeer about writing a Faust opera. Meyerbeer reportedly
replied, “Faust is the ark of the covenant, a sanctuary not to be approached
with profane music.” It seems that Goethe never considered one composer
who was around at the time: Beethoven. Beethoven had been thinking
about Faust as early as 1808, but never went anywhere with it.
Beethoven's friend Louis Spohr was an early bird. He wrote a Faust opera
that was premiered in 1816. Donizetti may be remembered for a number of
his operas (among them Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Pasquale), but
probably not for his Faust, premiered in 1832. Franz Liszt chose to tell the
story in purely orchestral terms. His Faust Symphony is a series of musical
portraits of the protagonists. The point is that the story of Faust served as
musical inspiration for many composers.
This concert brings together three masterful musical treatments, the work
of Arrigo Boito, Hector Berlioz, and Charles Gounod.
Boito: Mefistofele
Arrigo Boito was more active as a librettist than a composer. Among his
libretti were those for Verdi’s last two operas, Otello and Falstaff, and
Ponchielli’s La Gioconda (home of the popular “Dance of the Hours”). He
had first contemplated an opera on Goethe’s Faust around the time he
graduated from the Milan Conservatory in 1861. He created his own
libretto, with much of the text a literal translation from Goethe’s German
into Italian. Mefistofele was premiered in 1868 at La Scala. It was Boito’s
only completed opera.
Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
Hector Berlioz had read a French translation of Goethe's Faust in the late
1820s, a few years before he hit it big with his Symphonie fantastique. “It
made a strange and deep impression on me,” he wrote. “The marvelous
book fascinated me from the first. I could not put it down. I read it
incessantly, at meals, in the theatre, in the street." He immediately made a
musical setting of “Seven Scenes from Faust,” but he wasn't satisfied and
he withdrew the work. Some fifteen years later he once again took up the
subject and in 1846 premiered his Damnation of Faust, a work in four acts
scored for four solo voices, full chorus, children’s chorus, and orchestra. At
first he called it a “concert opera,” but in the end a “dramatic legend.” In
2008 it was “reconceived” for presentation at the Met.
Berlioz made an interesting alteration. He had recently scored a huge
audience success with his adaptation of a Hungarian march based on an
old Hungarian tune. To include this big hit in Damnation of Faust Berlioz
simply invented a scene that Goethe never dreamed of: Faust on the
Hungarian plain watching the Hungarian army pass by to the music of the
Hungarian march.
Gounod: Faust
Gounod’s Faust was premiered in 1859. Twenty-four years later,
on October 22, 1883, the very first offering at the new Metropolitan Opera
House was Gounod’s Faust. In 1892 the Metropolitan Opera was partially
destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt and on November 27, 1893, the Met
reopened with a production of Faust.
In fact, take a look at the most performed operas in the history of the Met:
1. Puccini: La Bohème
2. Verdi: Aida
3. Bizet: Carmen
4. Verdi: La Traviata
5. Puccini: Tosca
6. Verdi: Rigoletto
7. Puccini: Madame Butterfly
8. Gounod: Faust
In the early 1890s playwright George Bernard Shaw was working as a
music critic in London and he wrote this: “I have heard Gounod’s Faust not
less than 90 times within the last 10 or 15 years, and I have had enough of
it.”
The first half of our concert weaves together selections from Boito’s
Mefistofele and Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust.
In Boito’s heavenly prologue an invisible chorus of angels sings a hymn of
praise: “Ave Signor degli angeli e dei santi” (Hail, Lord of the angels and
saints).
Act One takes us to Frankfurt on Easter Sunday, with the chorus (“Juhé!
Juhé!”) describing the festivities, young men and women dancing, madly
whirling.
Berlioz offers us an Easter Song (Chant de la fête de Pâques) with Faust
jealously observing the pleasures of the villagers.
We return to Boito with Faust in his study. Having observed the Easter
festival he now sings “Dai campi, dai prati” (From fields and meadows
I now return, filled with calmness and sacred mystery). Mephistopheles, who has
been disguised as a friar, now reveals himself and sings “Son lo spirito che
nega” (I am the spirit that denies all things).
“Dors! heureux Faust!” (Sleep, happy Faust!) is sung by a chorus of
gnomes and sylphs in the Berlioz version. Faust, they sing, will have
dreams of love, referring to Mephistopheles conjuring a vision of a beautiful
woman named Marguerite, (You may also know her as Gretchen, as in
Schubert’s song “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel.”)
Marguerite tells Faust she has also dreamed of him and they declare their
love for each other. Faust sings “Ange adoré”(Adored angel whose celestial
image lit up my heart before I met you).
Boito’s second act brings us the supernatural doings of a witches’ sabbath.
The chorus of witches and sorcerers has bowed to Mephistopheles, their
great king. Now they sing “Ah! su! riddiamo, riddiamo” (Ah! We turn, we
turn, we dance on the ruin of the world).
In Boito’s third act Marguerite, abandoned by Faust, is in prison. She has
drowned her baby and poisoned her mother (actually an accidental
overdose of sleeping medicine). In “L’altra notte in fondo al mare”(The
other night into the depths of the sea they cast my baby) she imagines that
these stories have been made up to drive her mad.
Berlioz concludes with Apothéose de Marguerite (Glorification of
Marguerite). Faust has surrendered his soul to save Marguerite and a
chorus of celestial spirits welcomes her to heaven.
The second half of our concert focuses on Gounod’s Faust.
Faust has already made his deal with Mephistopheles (who has shown him
the vision of Marguerite). Now we are outside of the city gates with a
chorus of students and soldiers singing “Vin ou bière” (Wine or beer, beer
or wine. May my glass be forever full!)
Mephistopheles comments on the worship of wealth in “Le veau d’or est
toujours debout!” (The golden calf is still standing! Its power is praised
from one end of the world to the other!).
Mephistopheles and Faust are joined by the villagers in the waltz that ends
the second act. The chorus sings “Ainsi que la brise légère” (Just as the
light breeze swirls the dust, let the waltz carry us away!).
Faust, in Marguerite’s garden, sings “Salut! demeure chaste et pure (Hail,
chaste and pure dwelling where one can feel the presence of an innocent
and holy soul.)
Mephistopheles places a casket of jewels on the steps of Marguerite’s
house. He and Faust await her return. “Alerte, la voila!” (There she is!),
announces Mephistopheles. Marguerite adorns herself with the jewels and
sings the famous Jewel Song (“Ah! I laugh to see how lovely
I look in this mirror! Is it really you, Marguerite?”).
Faust and Marguerite sing the duet “O nuit d’amour, ciel radieux” (O night
of love, radiant sky).
In a scene in front of Marguerite’s house, soldiers, including Marguerite’s
brother Valentin, return from war and sing the well-known soldiers’ chorus
“Gloire immortelle” (Immortal glory of our ancestors, be loyal to us.)
As in Boito’s opera Marguerite is in prison for killing her child. As Faust
attempts to help her escape, Mephistopheles appears: “Alerte, alerte, ou
vous étes perdus” (Take care or you are lost). Marguerite recognizes the
devil and asks God to protect her.
We conclude with the Epilogue from Boito’s Mefistofele. Faust, back in his
study, knows that the end of his life is near. Mephistopheles urges Faust to
fly with him through the air. Faust falls to his knees in prayer.
Mephistopheles has lost his wager with God.