La damnation de Faust

It was perhaps inevitable that Berlioz, wild and impetuous by nature, should be drawn to the legend of Faust. The ancient story of the archetypal scholar prepared to sell his soul in exchange for knowledge of life’s fundamental secrets had been transformed into one of the great landmarks of German Romantic literature by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his tragedy in verse, Faust. La damnation de Faust was based on a French translation of Goethe’s play—published posthumously in its final form in 1832—and baffled its first audience at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1846. Berlioz branded his composition as a légende dramatique (dramatic legend), a badge that suited its novel status as a “concert opera”. While the piece initially proved a box-office flop, thanks not least to the heavy symbolism of its libretto and Faust’s introspective soliloquies, its heart-on-sleeve Romanticism found favour in France and beyond following an acclaimed concert performance given in Paris in the late 1870s. The jump-cut changes of mood that course through its four parts, audacious scenes with Méphistophélès (the devil in disguise), and profoundly moving exchanges between the doomed Faust and Marguerite, bear witness to the power of Berlioz’s imagination and the skill with which he was able to assemble the work’s disparate parts into a compelling whole. The work’s cumulative impact is reinforced by brilliant orchestral writing, on display in the famous “Hungarian March” and “Menuet des follets”, and set pieces such as “Villes entourées”, a chorus of students and soldiers, Méphistophélès’ spine-tingling ride with Faust to the abyss, and the ”Pandaemonium'' that rises from it.