The Faust Bargain

Greetings!
Well, our topic this week is Faust…Yikes, there’s sooooo many possible musical choices – I can only scratch the surface with this playlist! There’s probably no other single story/myth/legend that has inspired more artistic reactions; from plays, to concert music, to art song, to opera, to Broadway musicals, to film – writers like Christopher Marlowe, Goethe and both Thomas and Klaus Mann, to virtually every major composer in the 19th Century, to composers in our recent past like Stravinsky, etc. The Faust legend hits some deep psychological place. It’s an archetypical theme – selling your soul into eternal damnation and betraying/using the people you love the most in order to gain earthly power, wealth and fame. Now THAT’s got the makings of a great story!
I first learned of Faust through Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust. It was one of those ‘party pieces” (like Mahler 2) that Seiji Ozawa returned to again and again while music director of the Boston Symphony. Being a music geek and tagging along with my grandmother to every Tanglewood Festival Chorus reh and performance I could, I encountered the Berlioz many times. In fact, it was the fist work that the TFC ever recorded with the orchestra. I remember a particularly awesome performance one summer at Tanglewood…
Mephistopheles was being sung by Paul Plishka – a bearded, somewhat portly and, just lovely guy. After the orchestra working rehearsal, John Oliver, (TFC conductor) made a comment in the next warm-up about how truly frightening Plishka’s interpretation was – being sung by such a seemingly pleasant guy – “It’s like having a demented Santa Claus sidle up to you, smiling with menace behind his grin, and saying: ‘Hi, I’m here to drag you down to hell!’”
Those BSO/TFC “Damnations” were the start of my own love affair with the story – and I’ve sought out settings of Faust ever sense. So, this week, I’ll share a few of my faves. I know it’s long, but I couldn’t cut it down further – even then, I’ve had to leave out tons of favorite pieces!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhV7SQXzKjiwGK0_gfjTlo1RuQy4dvGxP
We start with some of the earliest musical settings after the publication of Goethe’s masterpiece, the “Song of the Flea” by Beethoven and two settings of ‘Gretchen am Spinnrade’ by Schubert.  The first as originally written, sung by Dame Janet Baker accompanied by the great Gerald Moore. The second is an orchestrated version (by Max Reger) with Renée Fleming and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado.
We then turn to Robert Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethe’s Faust (1853) and to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (1906-7) both of which conclude with the finale scene from Goethe’s Faust and both of which end with the glorious final stanza – 
Alles Vergängliche                       All that is ephemeral ist nur ein Gleichnis;                    is but a symbol; das Unzulängliche,                      the incomplete hier wird’s Ereignis;                     is here fulfilled; das Unbeschreibliche,                 the indescribable hier ist’s getan;                            is here accomplished; das Ewig-Weibliche                     the Eternal Feminine zieht uns hinan.                           draws us ever upwards.
Fun fact – my first M8 was in Boston with the BSO/TFC/Ozawa. I was sitting on the floor of Symphony Hall about half-way back.  The stage was extended and the chorus wrapped into the balconies on either side, surrounding us with massive sound on three sides. At the end of the first movement, ‘Veni creator’, Seiji whirled around, firing a cue to the back of the hall and a literal WALL of brass sound came from the concealed offstage brass way up in the back of the second balcony for the final glorious moments…we were surrounded on all sides, swimming in the loudest purely acoustical sound I had ever experienced in my life. To this day, it gives me shivers just thinking about it, even today! 
After that overwhelming text and music, I though a little Wagner might lighten things up…haha!! The two songs, here sung by the great lieder singer Dietrich Fischer-Diskau are light ‘songs’ from the scene in Goethe’s Faust which takes place in Auerbachs Keller in Leipzig (which, btw, is still there!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auerbachs_Keller) – Interestingly, Wagner never wrote a Faust opera or even a symphony (unlike Liszt, with his Eine Faust-Symphonie) but he did write a Faust overture, so I’m including that little taste of Wagnerian “Faust-ness”.
We stay in Leipzig and wander with Felix Mendelssohn through Walpurgis Night (celebrated on the evening of April 30/May1) which was when, according to legend, the devil was abroad—when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked. Mendelssohn wrote lots of wonderfully dramatic music, but I don’t know that this 1841 cantata is any bettered for both drama and just plain fun! It’s also a great performance by the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnányi…always awesome to hear this orchestra!
Then we come to the work that started all my Faustian musing – Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust from (1846). This performance is the BSO/TFC/Ozawa recording I mentioned above. It’s a little travelogue through some of my favorite sections of the much longer work (well worth it if you want to seek out!!) – including the soldiers/students chorus; when the two musical ideas are finally combined it always makes me smile – one of Berlioz’s most impressive musical devices. 
What follows is one of Berlioz’s most impassioned arias written for the character of Marguerite (fun fact – the Goethe-ites never forgave Berlioz for changing “Gretchen” into “Marguerite” HA!); this aria features a haunting and plaintive English Horn solo obligato  –  oh, and then there’s the “Ride to the Abyss” where Mephistopheles claims Faust’s soul as he plunges into the pit of hell…as only Berlioz could write it! I purposely left out the three famous orchestral excerpts that most people know – including the Rakóczy March. It’s easy enough to find if ya wanna hear it! (Fun fact, my grandmother, Thelma, is actually singing in the TFC alto section on this recording…such good memories for me of the chorus in that period!)
After the Berlioz we head, finally, to opera and one of the most wonderful operatic “Prologues” ever written – the “Prologo in cielo” from Boito’s Mefistofele from 1868. This performance comes from the Ravenna Festival with Riccardo Muti conducting and Ildar Abdrazakov singing the role of Mefistofele. Special shout out to the children’s chorus, which spits out really difficult Italian tongue-twisters better than any I’ve heard!
We next turn to Gounod’s 1859 opera Faust – I’m sure operaphiles will wish I’d chosen other highlights as well – but these are worth hearing: Erwin Schrott singing Mephistopheles’ aria ‘Le veau d’or’; the late, great Russian baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky singing ‘Avant de quitter’; Angela Georghiu singing the “Jewel Song”.
Then…if you dare: the final trio from Gounod’s opera (sung, in English, as a duet!?!?!) by Florence Foster Jenkins (who’s surprisingly not too hideous in this)…and a baritone of dubious repute (Actually, he’s so hideous he makes her sound polished!) – put the wine down from your lips before listening to this – you have been warned!
After that – we move to an awesome music video (complete with wacky and weird Soviet imagery during the introduction) of the “Death Tango” from Alfred Schnittke’s Faust Cantata from 1983. The cantata is famous for this movement – a tango sung through the microphone by the Devil with the mocking comments on the cruel death of Faust.  The cantata eventually became the third act of Schnittke’s Faust opera. I LOVE this music – it’s so wild and borderline demented! And, the use of orchestra/chorus and soloist is just fabulous – (and, the video is over.the.top)!!
I couldn’t resist including Damn Yankees, the hit 1955 Broadway music based on a modern retelling of the Faust legend – and starring Ray Walston (as the Devil) and Gwen Verdon (as Lola, one of his seductive minions). The choreographer was Bob Fosse and this production marked the beginning of his and Verdon’s artistic and personal relationship! Fun fact – I was a member of the male chorus (the baseball team) my freshman year in high school when our Drama Club did this as the Spring Musical!!
I hope you’ve enjoyed a little trip through various musical responses to the Faust legend! It’s been fun to put together – and you just might see some of these pieces in future seasons…hmmmmm.