La damnation de Faust (English: The Damnation of Faust ) is a work for orchestra, voices, and chorus written by Hector Berlioz (he called it a "légende dramatique"). Berlioz read Goethe's Faust Part One in 1828, in Gérard de Nerval's translation; "this marvelous book fascinated me from the first", he recalled in his Memoirs . "I could not put it down. 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. [1] 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. [2] 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 18 February 18 1893, where it was produced by its director Raoul Gunsbourg, Jean de Reszke singing the role of Faust. The Metropolitan Opera premiered it first in concert (2 February 1896) and then on stage (The United States stage premiere on 7 December 1906). The Met revived it first in concert at Carnegie Hall on 10 November 1996, (repeated on tour in Tokyo the next year), then on the stage production on 7 November 2008, produced and directed by Robert Lepage, with innovative techniques of computer-generated stage imagery that responds to the performers' voices. [3] There are a number of recordings. Three sections of it, the Marche Hongroise (Hungarian March), Ballet des sylphes , and Menuet des follets are sometimes extracted and performed as "Three Orchestral Pieces from La Damnation de Faust ."

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Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 6 December 1846 [4] (Conductor: Berlioz)
Marguerite	mezzo-soprano	Hortense Dufflot-Maillard
Faust	tenor	Gustave-Hippolyte Roger
Méphistophélès	baritone	Léonard Hermann-Léon
Brander	bass	Henry ("Henri") Deshaynes
Chorus

Synopsis

Part I

I. Faust soliloquizes in the plain of Hungary, ^[5] unable to respond to the quickening of nature with the springtime ("Le vieil hiver"). II. He hears peasant songs and dances (Ronde des paysans ), but cannot find it in himself to share their happiness. III (Marche hongroise ). Distant strains of a march are heard, and Hungarian soldiers march past in the famous "Rákóczi March", based on a traditional Hungarian tune.

Part II

IV. Faust sits in his study, deeply depressed. He decides to commit suicide, but 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 revives Faust's will to live. V. 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. V. In the well-known tavern in Leipzig, Auerbachs Keller, there is a convivial song. VI. 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. VII. 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. VIII. 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. X. They hide. XI. Marguerite approaches unaware, and reflectively sings the "Gothic Song", "Autrefois un roi de Thulé" ("The King of Thule"), of faithfulness until death. XII. 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"). XIII. Faust reveals himself to Marguerite, who confesses that she had dreamed of him. They sing a love duet. XIV. Mephistopheles intrudes and tells Faust that they must leave because Marguerite's mother has been alerted and she and the townspeople are coming to Marguerite's house (Trio and chorus). Faust and Marguerite say goodbye, then Faust and Mephistopheles leave.

Part IV

XV. Marguerite sits in her house, singing the Romance "D’amour l’ardente flamme" as she waits in vain for Faust to come back. The students and soldiers march by again, but Faust is not among them. XVI. 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 promises to save Marguerite only if Faust will first signs a document for him--the document relinquishing Faust's soul. Faust signs it without hesitation. (As he does, the recitative momentarily pauses and one single, quiet stroke of tam-tam marks an omen of doom.) XVIII. Mephistopheles summons his magic horses (Vortex and Giaour) and he and Faust ride off (the "Ride to the Abyss"). Soon after they start, they pass a group of countrywomen praying at the crossroad to Saint Marguerite. When people see the two riders, they run away in horror. Faust thinks they are going to save Marguerite, but then he grows terrified when he begins to see some grotesque visions. "Perhaps you are afraid?" - asks Mephistopheles, and they stop momentarily. Hearing a bell signifying that Marguerite's execution is near, Faust responds: "No!" and they redouble the pace. The landscape grows more and more horrible and grotesque, with blood raining from the sky and skeletons by the side road. Then Mephistopheles cries out to his "infernal cohorts," and he and Faust fall into the pit of hell. (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. XIX. Pandaemonium A chorus of demons then sings triumphantly in an infernal language, naming the demon princes and dancing around Mephistopheles ("Has! Irimiru Karabrao!").

Epilogue

A narrator-like chorus sings of the terrors of hell and the "mystery of horror." Then comes the Apotheosis of Marguerite, in which, in accordance with the document signed by Faust, Marguerite is saved from the damnation and brought up into heaven by a chorus of heavenly spirits, also known as seraphim meaning "angels."

Libretto

Parodies

• The piece, "L'Éléphant" (The Elephant) from Camille Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals (1886) uses a theme from the "Danse des sylphes," played on a double bass.