Faust Symphony
A Faust Symphony in three character studies (Eine Faust-Sinfonie in drei Charakterbildern) (S.108), or simply the "Faust Symphony", was written by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt and was inspired by Johann von Goethe's drama, Faust. The symphony was premiered in Weimar on September 5, 1857, for the inauguration of a monument to Goethe and Schiller.
Although it was initially begun earlier - sketches for a Faust symphony exist from the 1840s - the Faust Symphony was mainly written in Weimar in the summer of 1854. The work was then revised in the next few years, with some heavy brass staves and a Chorus Mysticus added to the finale in which words from Faust Part II are sung by a male chorus and a tenor soloist to music from the middle movement. Other minor and major changes were made, too. In 1880, Liszt added some ten bars to the second movement.
First movement: Faust
This large-scale movement (usually lasting around 30 minutes) is a very loose sonata-form with a short central development and a protracted recapitulation. One might say that this movement represents the very synthesis of the whole symphony, since many of its themes and motives appear throughout the score, modified and transformed in various ways, a process which Liszt mastered to the highest level during his Weimar years. The basic key of the symphony (C-major) is already rather blurred by the opening theme made up of arpeggios and augmented fifths. This theme evokes the gloomy Faust, a dreamer, in everlasting search for truth and knowledge. Next follows the so-called 'Nostalgia' theme introduced by the oboe. At the end of a slow crescendo, there appears a violent Allegro agitato ed appassionato theme, depicting Faust's insatiable appetite for the pleasures of life - this theme establishes a gingery C-minor threatened to collapse under the weight of highly chromatic elements. A melody of the oboe and clarinet represents the hero's 'painful delights'. The last theme is pentatonic and resolute. From all these elements Liszt weaves a musical structure of power and grandeur, in which some critics recognise the composers self-portrait.
Second movement: Gretchen
This slow movement is in the mellow and affectionate key of A flat major. Following the introduction on the flutes and clarinets, we are given the pure oboe's melody figurated by the viola's tender decorations, which expresses Gretchen's virginal innocence. A dialogue between clarinet and violins describes her naively plucking the petals of a flower, in a game of 'he loves me, he loves me not'. She is obsessed by Faust, and therefore we may hear Faust's themes being introduced progressively into the music, until his and Gretchen's themes form a passionate love duet. This draws the second movement to a peaceful and short recapitulation.
Third movement: Mephistopheles
The third movement is the most outstanding in the entire symphony. Since Mephistopheles, Satan, the Spirit of Negation, is not capable of creating his own themes, he takes all of Faust's themes from the first movement and mutilates them into ironical and diabolical distortions. Here Liszt's mastery of thematic metamorphosis shows itself in its full power - therefore we may understand this movement as a modified recapitulation of the first one. The music is pushed to the very verge of atonality by use of high chromaticism, rythmic leaps and fantastic scherzo-like sections. A modified version of Faust's second and third themes then creates an infernal fugue. Mephistopheles is, however, powerless when faced with Gretchen's innocence, so her theme remains intact. It even pushes the Spirit of Negation away towards the end of the work. At the end appears the 'Chorus mysticus', tranquill and positive. The male chorus silently sings the words from Goethe's Faust:
Original German
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English Translation
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Alles Vergängliche |
Everything transitory |
The tenor soloist then rises above the murmur of the chorus and starts to sing the last two lines of the text, emphasizing the power of salvation through the Eternal Feminine.
References
- Walker, Alan, Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861, copyright 1989, Cornell U. Press edition of 1993, ISBN 0-8014-9721-3 - pp. 326-336, esp. pp. 326-7 and 335, and page 319 as well with the original 1854 version, in 7/8 time of the Allegro agitato main sonata theme of the first movement, later changed to common time in the revision.)
- Warner Classics, Warner Music UK Ltd., from the 'Apex Titles Collection', disc number 2564 61460-2, concept by Matthew Cosgrove