As a teen, Richard Wagner developed a fascination with Goethe’s Faust.
Allegedly, on the age of 16, Wagner hid a replica of the play amongst his faculty books. For the remainder of his life, allusions to Faust, and direct quotations, recurred all through his writings.
The Faustian archetype, through which the protagonist, in a cope with the satan, exchanges his soul for limitless information and worldly pleasures, impressed music by quite a few composers together with Liszt, Schumann, Berlioz, Gounod, Mahler, and Prokofiev. A Faust Overture, first composed in 1840 and revised in 1855, is one in every of Wagner’s earliest works. It’s a uncommon instance of music Wagner composed for the live performance corridor quite than the opera stage. Initially, the Overture was conceived as the primary motion of a “Faust” Symphony, a undertaking which the composer later deserted.
The conductor Hans von Bülow, one in every of Wagner’s earliest and most devoted champions, interpreted the Faust Overture not as a personality portrait, however as a broader expression of “mankind’s common sufferings and needs.”
Set in tragic D minor, the Overture begins within the depths of the orchestra with a single wandering line, performed by the tuba and basses. The opposite strings awaken with stressed, ghostly utterances. If this preliminary theme represents Faust, a contrasting theme, rising with octave leaps within the violins, signifies Gretchen. Shifting from D to E-flat to C-sharp, the theme is each expansive (on account of its octave jumps), and tensely compact (on account of its chromaticism). It’d remind you of the equally looking theme which opens the Adagio of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony, additionally in D minor.
Unfolding in sonata kind, the Overture’s drama encompasses fiery, tempestuous ardour and heroism. Within the closing moments, with a wispy ascending scale within the violins, the ephemeral spirit appears to drift away. The coda part delivers serene transcendence.
Wagner carried out the premiere in Dresden on July 22, 1844. On this Might 21, 2013 efficiency, commemorating the anniversary of Wagner’s delivery, Christian Thielemann leads the Staatskapelle Dresden:
Recordings
- Wagner: A Faust Overture, Christian Thielemann, Staatskapelle Dresden Naxos
Featured Picture: “Faust und Mephisto im Kerker” (1846), Joseph Fay
