La Damnation De Faust
I read it incessantly, at meals, in the theatre, in the street." He was so impressed that a suite entitled "Eight Scenes from Faust" became his Opus 1 (1829), though he later recalled all the copies of it he could find. He returned to the material in 1845, to make a larger work, with some additional text by Almire Gandonnière to Berlioz's specifications, that he first called a "concert opera", and as it expanded, finally a "dramatic legend".
He worked on the score during his concert tour of 1845, adding his own text for "Nature immense, impénétrable et fière"— Faust's climactic invocation of all nature— and incorporating the Rákóczi March, which had been a thunderous success at a concert in Pest, Hungary, 15 February 1846. Its first performance at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, 6 December 1846, did not meet with critical acclaim, perhaps due to its halfway status between opera and cantata; the public was apathetic, and two performances (and a cancelled third) rendered a financial setback for Berlioz: "Nothing in my career as an artist wounded me more deeply than this unexpected indifference", he remembered.
The Damnation of Faust is performed regularly in concert halls, since its first successful complete performance in concert in Paris, in 1877; it is occasionally staged as an opera, for the first time in Opéra de Monte-Carlo on February 18, 1893, where it was produced by its director Raoul Gunsbourg, Jean de Reszke singing role of Faust.
The Metropolitan Opera premiered it first in concert (February 2, 1896) and then on stage (The United States stage premiere on December 7, 1906). The Metropolitan Opera revived the production on November 7, 2008 directed by Robert Lepage, with computer-generated stage imagery that responds to the voices of the performers.
There are a number of recordings.
Faust soliloquizes in solitude in the plain of Hungary, unable to respond to the quickening of nature with the spring ("Le vieil hiver"). He hears peasant songs and dances (Ronde des paysans), but cannot find it in himself to share their happiness.
Distant strains of a march are heard, and Hungarian soldiers march past in the famous "Rákóczi March", based on a Hungarian gypsy tune.
Part II
IV. He decides to commit suicide, but just as he is bringing the cup of poison to his lips he hears the ringing of church bells and the strains of an "Easter Hymn." This returns to Faust his will to live.
Suddenly, the devil, Méphistophélès, appears, represented by a quick trombone figure and a woodwind trill. He offers to take Faust on a journey, to which Faust agrees.
In the well-known tavern in Leipzig, Auerbachs Keller, there is a convivial song. Brander, one of the drinkers, sings the "Song of the Rat," with the tag-line "Il a vraiment l’amour au corps!" The drinkers then "improvise" an ironic chorale-like fugue based on the words "Requiescat in pace, Amen," after which Mephistopheles sings the "Song of the Flea." Faust is disgusted and asks Mephistopheles if there is nothing else he can be shown.
In a country field on the banks of the Elbe, Mephistopheles enchants Faust with a vision of a woman named Marguerite ("Voici des roses"), causing Faust to fall in love with her. Faust falls into a dreamy sleep (Chorus of gnomes and sylphs, Dance of the Sylphs), and awakes crying "Margarita!" Mephistopheles offers to help him get to her.
He accomplishes this by having them march into the town where Marguerite lives, hidden among groups of students, singing Latin, and soldiers.
Part III
IX. Faust ("Merci, doux crépuscule!") and Mephistopheles are secretly in Marguerite's house.
In the street outside, Mephistopheles summons flaming will-o-the-wisps, who dance around Marguerite's house ("Menuet des Follets") as Mephistopheles sings a coarsely realistic, ironic serenade ("Devant la maison"). Faust reveals himself to Marguerite, who confesses that she had dreamed of him.
Mephistopheles intrudes and tells Faust that they must leave because Marguerite's mother has been alerted and she and the townspeople are coming towards Marguerite's house (Trio and chorus). Faust and Marguerite say goodbye, then Faust and Mephistopheles leave.
Part IV
XV.
In a scene of forests and caverns Faust sings the "Invocation to Nature" ("Nature immense, impénétrable et fière") XVII. Mephistopheles then informs Faust that Marguerite, in her despair, accidentally gave her mother too much sleeping draught and killed her.
Marguerite is now in prison and will be hanged the next day. Faust panics, but Mephistopheles tells him Mephistopheles can save Marguerite if Faust signs one document--the document relinquishing Faust's soul.
Mephistopheles summons horses and he and Faust ride off (the "Ride to the Abyss"). Faust thinks they are going to save Marguerite, but he grows terrified when he begins to see grotesque visions.
(This is another departure from the original story, which has Faust being saved in the end.) The devil princes ask Mephistopheles if Faust freely signed away his soul, to which Mephistopheles assents.