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| | Arts Calendar / October 29 / Opera |
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 Opera in three acts by Charles Gounod. 180 min (with two intervals). Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré based on the legend and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s tragedy of the same name. Music Director and Conductor: Artem Makarov. Stage Director: Georgy Isahakyan. Sung in French. Gounod’s opera does not attempt to match the thematic breadth or the philosophical sophistication of Goethe’s sprawling masterpiece, concentrating instead on Faust’s romantic encounter with Marguerite (Gretchen in Goethe’s drama) and the tragic results of their liaison. Gounod’s Faust was a success and established the composer’s international reputation. Several versions of the opera exist. The first performances of Faust included spoken dialogue between musical numbers. The following year Gounod reworked it with sung recitative. He later composed music for lengthy ballet scenes at the request of the Paris Opéra, which revived the work in 1869. Faust was Gounod’s first great success, the work that established his international reputation. It also earned him the lasting wrath of the Germans, who were enraged by the way in which Gounod had altered what they saw as their national masterpiece. Even today Germans rarely call the work by its proper name. Instead, they give its title as Margarethe, to emphasize that Gounod’s opera in no way represents Goethe’s Faust. Indeed, the opera focuses far more upon the leading lady and how she eventually overcomes both Faust and the Devil to save herself. It is she, not Faust, who, in the opera’s final scene, is taken in by the angels.
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