Faust.......................Marcello Giordani
Marguerite..................Susan Graham
Méphistophélès..............John Relyea
Brander.....................Patrick Carfizzi
Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust is tonight's stream from the Metropolitan Opera, 2008. See my discussion here of how it fits into the stream of Faust operas and plays. The expense of installing the complex Lepage production has prevented it from being revived. This is our only opportunity. I am enjoying the complex but pleasing staging. It allows for large masses of people moving on and off, dancing, birds flying, etc. These fill the long stretches of instrumental interludes. The opera was intended by Berlioz for the concert stage, but I am enjoying this staging. If I remember correctly, the people who managed the Paris opera did not like Berlioz.
It is important to remember that Robert Lepage is the creator of Cirque de Soleil. This explains the presence of acrobats who climb around the set. We even have three of them being crucified. They disappear suddenly when the scene changes. Giordani and Relyea climb all over the set like the acrobats. Lepage tends to forget that singers and acrobats have very different professions.
This is an excellent cast. I sometimes wonder what has become of John Relyea. This is one of my favorite performances of Marcello Giordani. The pervasive legato of Berlioz seems to suit him very well.
The set is more a commenting tableau than a staging. Events are suggested rather than shown, but it stays true to the story.
"D'amour l'ardente flamme" was performed by Susan Graham and Pedro Diaz Cosme on English horn. This is a highlight of this opera and was quite gorgeous.
Brittomara (Mephistopheles): Brennan Blankenship
Fabian (Faust): Nicholas Huff
Diana (Gretchen): Anne-Marie MacIntosh
Selena: Elisa Sunshine
Putnam: Rafael Porto
Paul: Timothy Murray
David: Brandon Scott Russell
Rachel: Edith Grossman
Jonathan: Edward Laurenson
If I Were You by Jake Heggie, librettist Gene Scheer, was commissioned for and presented by this summer's Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera. This is the first work commissioned by Merola, and this is its world premier. The one requirement is that there must be a lot of roles. The first four characters were double cast and ours was the emerald cast. I'm going to try to explain this.
There are a few theatrical elements that need to be explained. Brittomara appears various times throughout the opera in different outfits but always with red hair. She is an ambulance attendant, an auto mechanic, a waitress, etc. There are electrical flashes that seem to be entertaining but meaningless. My friend and I discussed this at length and finally concluded that this was the device with two paddles that medical professionals use to revive someone whose heart has stopped. Brittomara refuses to let Fabian die because she wants his soul.
We also argued over whether or not this was a Faust plot. The final plot element that requires explaining is the major plot element. Fabian falls for Diana, named for the goddess, whom he meets at the auto mechnic. Initially she takes no notice of him. He gives the devil his soul in order that he may become someone Diana would be interested in. Most of the other characters are his reincarnations. There are magic words and loud flashing sounds when the transfer takes place.
So "If I were you" followed by advice, advice, advice, isn't it at all. It's if I were actually you and robbed you of your soul. For me it almost worked. I enjoyed the part after the intermission more than the earlier parts. Our Diana, Anne-Marie MacIntosh, I enjoyed very much, but now that we've settled the argument, I'd like to see it again.
Moral of the story: don't give away your soul. It's the best thing you've got.
I decided that I needed to know more about Faust. We are hitting only the highlights. To get an idea of how big the influence of the Faust legend is see this list. There are many, many works with this theme, more than I could possibly address.
I
I called the original Faust a German myth. Apparently others call it a legend. One reliable source (EB) says that the original Johann Georg Faust (c. 1480–1540) lived in the time of Martin Luther and practiced the dark arts of wizardry, magic and astrology. This is rather a different idea than Goethe’s Faust. The Faust legend became the subject of extensive theological discussion. Martin Luther was concerned that Protestantism would become associated with the practices of Faust and fought hard against him.
II
Between 1589 and 1592 Christopher Marlowe wrote a play usually referred to as Doctor Faustus. Calling Faust Doctor Faustus means pretty much the same thing it does now. He has advanced to the top of academia. This is an interesting work where Faust gives up his soul in order to gain magical powers for a specified time period. He accomplishes nothing useful but uses his gifts to perform tricks for the nobility. He goes to hell when his time runs out.
I don’t have to go into all the details. Clearly in this early period the subject matter of Faust’s knowledge and studies is significant. Marlowe’s play represents the Calvinist position where salvation is preordained. He is condemned for his magical practices and cannot be saved.
Mephistopheles was a folklore figure in the Faust legend. He becomes a stock character. It's best seen as a play for special effects. Marlowe establishes the idea that Faust gets his magic powers from the Devil.
III
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play Faust part 1 and part 2 (1806-1832) was the next landmark in the life of this legend. Only part 1 is regularly staged. It is regarded as a great monument of German literature. For our purposes we will concern ourselves only with part 1.
It is Goethe who transforms the legend into something else. Originally it is Faust himself who leads himself into darkness, perhaps with the devil's help, but not entirely. In Goethe it is rather like the tale of Job where God challenges the Devil to lead his exemplary man to hell. The Devil gives it his best shot. Faust is a learned man but his studies are here regarded as good. Mephistopheles enters into Faust's life as a dog who follows him home.
It is also Goethe who introduces Marguerite into the story. We are to presume that Faust, the saintly scholar, is sexually inexperienced. Here it becomes a transaction. Faust may have anything he wants on earth, while the Devil alone has power in hell. It is a witch who turns Faust into a young man. Valentine, Marguerite's brother, first appears here.
Goethe's Marguerite donates Mephistopheles' jewels to the church, but is led to ruin anyway. The Devil thinks Faust would be tempted by a Walpurgis Nacht. Perhaps this links us back to the original legend where Faust is attracted to the dark arts. Here he isn't.
The Marguerite story is extended through several scenes where she kills her mother, gives birth to Faust's child, kills her child and is sent to prison. At the very end she prays for salvation and is saved. This does not sound like a Calvinist perspective. The story of Faust continues into part 2.
IV
It's after this that musicians become interested. The first piece that has remained in the repertoire is Hector Berlioz' La damnation de Faust (1846). This is intended to be a concert piece, but is often fully staged. The prologue in heaven where God makes a bargain with the Devil does not appear. Instead Faust is an old man who has become tired of life and wants to kill himself. Méphistophélès appears and offers him something to live for. They travel together to several locations, but Faust doesn't become interested until Marguerite enters the picture.
Berlioz focuses on Marguerite much like Goethe, but shows Faust's continuing interest in science in this aria. The presence of a love story makes it more suitable as an opera plot. At the end Marguerite is saved but Faust goes to hell. The musical style is fully romantic.
V
The most famous of all the Faust operas is Charles Gounod's Faust
(1859). For about 50 years it was the most popular opera just about
everywhere, but then it faded considerably. Gounod's Faust summons the Devil to his study when after a long life in science, he finds that he has accomplished nothing and wants to kill himself. Mephistopheles makes a bargain with Faust that he will show him something he cannot resist. God's complicity in this bargain is not shown. After changing him into a young man, the Devil takes Faust out to get drunk in a bar. Faust is uninterested. Marguerite is next. The above aria is Faust's reaction to her.
This is my favorite aria from Gounod's Faust, sung here by my favorite baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, in the role of Marguerite's brother Valentin. This is just before he leaves her to go off to war. He gives responsibility for her to Siebel who appears only in this opera.
Here above we have the original
version of "Diamonds are a girl's best friend."
The Walpurgis Nacht comes in the form of a ballet which is usually omitted. Faust returns to Marguerite in her prison cell. She is saved by an angel, but Faust continues on with Mephistopheles. In the recent production from London he turns back into an old man.
We have wandered far from the original legend which concerned itself with Faust's interests as a scholar to the mere boredom of an old man who has accomplished nothing with his life. The Met's attempt to drag it back by casting Faust as a nuclear scientist who regrets what he has spent his time doing. We have the fully romantic music of one Faust and the story of another.
It is good to stop for a moment and point out the difference between Gounod and Goethe. Goethe is clear that Faust the academic is a good man favored by God. Gounod's Faust is just a bored old man. The worst thing about this opera is the fact that both Faust and Valentin praise Marguerite for her chastity and purity. Then Faust leads her into darkness with hardly a backward look. Valentin abandons her. She is saved in the end through God's grace. This is seen as a Christian message because God can forgive anything. Someone has pointed out to me that Gounod was a Catholic, and that we have here more of a Catholic perspective.
VI
Not too long after Gounod's opera came Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele (1868). I know this opera from glorious performances in San Francisco starring Samuel Ramey. Boito restores Goethe's prologue in heaven where Mefistofele challenges God for the soul of his servant Faust. It was a failure at its initial performance at La Scala, Milan.
Faust agrees to give up his soul in return for bliss on earth. The Marguerite part of the story is similar to Gounod, except in addition to killing her child, she poisons her mother. She repents of her sins, and the angels save her.
At the end Mefistofele and Faust return to heaven for the final judgment. Faust is saved.
I think it is the music which speaks against this opera, Boito's only composed opera. Boito is almost modern in his style. The contrast to Gounod's music is enormous. The version with Samuel Ramey is highly recommended. Without Ramey does it work at all?
VII
Ferruccio Busoni in his Doktor Faust (1916–25) writes his own libretto in German. This opera was presented at the San Francisco Opera in June, 2004. I attended one of these performances and was completely confused. Now that I see the plot description, I can understand why. It was done as a regie production in modern dress in what appears to be a modern factory of some kind. To add to the confusion Faust is a baritone and Mephistopheles is a tenor.
God is not involved. Faust the academic is visited by mysterious figures who give him a book. He follows the instructions in the book, draws a circle on the floor and summons the Devil. Marguerite's brother is a character whom Faust kills, but she herself does not appear. Clearly we have wandered far from Goethe but closer to Marlowe.
Faust appears as a magician at the court of the Duke of Parma where he seduces and elopes with the Duchess of Parma. I can't imagine how this fits in with a factory. At the end he performs some kind of magic trick where he falls dead and gives his life to another. I think it would be necessary to study this extensively to have any hope of understanding what was going on.
VIII
It might be possible to regard Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1951) as a Faust opera. It's a bit of a stretch. The Devil makes an appearance.
It has also been pointed out to me that Damn Yankees is also a Faust story.
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Conductor: Dan Ettinger
Director: David McVicar
Faust
Michael Fabiano
Méphistophélès
Erwin Schrott
Marguerite
Irina Lungu
Valentin
Stéphane Degout
Siébel
Marta Fontanals-Simmons
Gounod's Faust came to a theater near me from the Royal Opera in London where it was live on April 30. Faust is a kind of morality myth of no specific era, so it cannot be considered regie that it is staged for the period of it's original appearance in 1859. The settings bring the story to life. I always remember that the Germans call this opera Marguerite. For at least its first 50 years this opera was wildly popular, but musical tastes have moved on, and it's heard now as a bit corny, I think.
Erwin Schrott played Méphistophélès for laughs, something he's very good at.
I loved Michael's voice in his aria "Salut, demeure chaste et pure." I enjoy his style as a romantic hero very much. Irina Lungu was a replacement for Diana Damrau who I understand has a slipped disc. I liked her.
This is as close to a traditional production as you are likely to see these days.
This is the second opera where I've seen Erwin in a dress. The other one was Verdi, I think. This role better suits the voice of Rene Pape, but Erwin is much funnier and cuter. The Walpurgis Nacht is done as a ballet with a dancer appearing as pregnant Marguerite. Valentin comes back from the dead, followed by an orgy. Marguerite appears with her baby. Then a small casket. Then a jail.
The ending is perfection. Marguerite rejects both Faust and the Devil, prays to God, and an angel appears to declare her saved. Faust is again an old man. The Devil laughs.
It worked for me much better than the Met version.
Alejo Pérez conductor
Reinhard von der Thannen stage director, stage sets and costumes
Piotr Beczala (Faust)
Ildar Abdrazakov (Méphistophélès)
Maria Agresta (Marguerite)
Alexey Markov (Valentin)
Tara Erraught (Siébel)
Marie-Ange Todorovitch (Marthe)
Gounod's Faust from the Salzburg Festival streamed today on medicitv. It came in a regie production, as you can see in the picture above. There were many images to choose from, but I have chosen the Rien neon which began and ended the opera. One puzzles briefly at the start, and then Faust opens his mouth and sings "Rien," French for nothing. Of course. I have reached Faust's age and listen to his complaining with now more sympathetic ears. He effectively transforms from a bald old man to a young man with hair.
The white daisies Siebel gives as a bouquet in act III are called Marguerites.
Everything is symbolic. I have no idea of what. Abstract shapes that look like nothing at all seem preferable to people in a laboratory for no apparent reason. Half of the tunes are hit tunes. I can listen to Pique Dame and recognize very little of the music, while Faust is ever familiar. The music is intensely nostalgic, a style that grows old for us. Perhaps a meaningless modernist staging takes away from the nostalgia and makes the music tolerable again. I actually enjoyed this, an excellent concert with pictures. The pictures were sometimes odd, but the story line stayed in tact. Except maybe the baby as a box wrapped as a present.
Maria Agresta gave us a strong Marguerite capable of soaring over the orchestra and chorus. Ildar was perfection as Méphistophélès, growly and nasty. Piotr was pleasing. They could only have cast Tara because they wanted her soft sweetness to contrast with the angry brother and the evil Méphistophélès.
It is a Faust for today.
___________
P.S. I was reading a review of this production today which covered each of the usual subjects one by one--conducting, orchestra playing, each singer's performance and the production. Then it suddenly turned into a religious commentary. Faust is a Christian morality tale. The lesson is that the devil can do nothing to prevent your salvation. From a Christian perspective Faust is the essential opera. We were scolded for our lack of interest in it.
Beginning in 1862 it became the most frequently performed opera in the repertoire for a long period. Since its premier at the Met in 1883, it has played hundreds of performances, but recently has declined in popularity. My sense of this is that while people seem never to grow tired of Puccini, Gounod is another matter entirely. The music begins to sound corny to us.
It is my understanding that this opera didn't sell well in Salzburg. I don't think lecturing us about Christian themes will save it.
Marguerite:
Sophie Koch (mezzo-soprano)
Faust:
Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)
Méphistophélès:
Bryn Terfel (baritone)
Stephen Hawking (mute): Dominique Mercy
The basic premise of the Eurotrash movement seems to be that any music and set of words can be fitted to any set of pictures and movements. Any actual relationship is unnecessary. Faust is supposed to be a scholar, so we will make him a scientist working on the space program. Why not? This is at least a tenuous relationship. This staging of La Damnation de Faust from the Paris Opera is more a comedy than a serious drama. No one cares about souls any more.
Of the above characters the one who spends the most time on stage is Stephen Hawking. For most of the opera he sits in his chair. At the beginning he speaks in his mechanical voice. He is immediately recognizable without use of a program.
Act I
The intention to establish a colony on Mars in 2025 is announced. The colonists are announced. In any opera there are people who look one of two different ways: they are uniformly young and thin or they are representative of all mankind. The former group is, of course, the ballet, and the latter is the chorus. People identified as going to Mars are all from the ballet. They remove parts of their dress and appear in various stages of dress and undress until the last scene.
Jonas Kaufmann as Faust appears, except for the addition of horn rimmed glasses, as himself throughout. He doesn't suddenly become young, as is traditional with Faust.
Act II
Faust, Hawking and Méphistophélès appear. Potential colonists are tested like lab rats. Méphistophélès chloroforms Faust who falls on the floor and dreams of Marguerite. We see films of the Mars rover, and a copy appears on stage. An orientation confusion device is brought on stage and Faust refuses to go into it. So they choose Hawking instead who while still in his chair, rotates in all directions for a while.
Then Hawking is back in his chair, nude (body stockings?) women dancers appear, Jonas and Sophie interact.
Act III
Marguerite sings. Almost nude ballet couples become intimate. Perhaps on Mars they will have to pair up. Then duet with Faust and Marguerite. Then a trio with Bryn. The male dancers have abandoned the females who now look injured.
Act IV
This is the best part of the staging. Marguerite is Hawking's nurse. She sings the most famous aria so far. There was much discussion in reviews of snails mating, but for us this is not seen and we have closeups of Sophie instead. She takes off her lab coat and strokes Hawking's cheeks. So you see the love she sings about is for Hawking. She lays her cheek against his. The Mars rover goes by. And finally she kisses him.
Jonas comes out and sings "Nature immense" with an erupting volcano behind. Very nice.
Bryn comes out with 3D goggles and tempts Faust into putting them on. The colonists, including Marguerite, put on their space uniforms and we see a rocket blasting off. Perhaps it's time to depart.
Faust finds Marguerite's dress in the pile of clothes and searches for her among the colonists.
Ending: We are supposedly sending Marguerite off to heaven, but instead Hawking gets out of his chair and does an extended ballet. Sort of. Faust gets in the abandoned chair and drives it off the stage.
So is this The Salvation of Stephen Hawking instead of The Damnation of Faust? The music was lovely. We heard no booing.
I watched about half of Boito's Mefistofele streamed from the Bayerische Staatsoper with René Pape as the devil, Joseph Calleja as Faust, Kristine Opolais as Marguerita. This work has been performed a number of times in San Francisco, and I enjoyed very much the stark, brutal sets from Munich after years of the cute production we have here. They provided a real witches sabbath. Incidentally, this part of the Faust story has always confused me. Faust is supposed to be lured away from heaven by a bunch of witches gathering. Huh. I don't get it. The cast is fantastic.
I went to the movies for The Importance of being Earnest with David Suchet as Lady Bracknell. It wasn't very funny. He played her sour which I didn't enjoy.
I may have hated the production, but how can you not love him?
Of the three operas based on Goethe's Faust only Boito's Mefistofele goes on to include material from Part II, ending with Faust's salvation. Faust's bargain is that if he sees something he finds beautiful, he will ask to stay in that moment and lose his soul. But it is only when he reaches heaven that Faust says, "This is beautiful. I would like to stay." He wins the bet.
This opera was a failure and really only came to prominence when it became a vehicle for Samuel Ramey. In fact I've seen this production twice before, in 1989 and 1994, both times with Ramey. I wasn't sure until they came to the scene where Faust seduces Margherita, staged here with a large raised circle in the center of the stage. A woman sits next to the circle peeling apples, and then suddenly gets up and starts turning a crank that makes the circle rotate. Memorable.
This time we have:
Conductor:
Nicola Luisotti Production: Robert Carsen
Mefistofele: Ildar Abdrazakov Faust: Ramon Vargas Margherita: Patricia Racette Marta: Erin Johnson Elena: Patricia Racette
It's a very silly opera but highly entertaining. My friends all loved it. Ildar Abdrazakov is cute but not the towering figure Sam Ramey was in the role.
There was an honest to god Walpurgis Nacht such as I have never seen before. I should have brought my birdwatching binoculars because mere opera glasses were not sufficient to tell if those actually were naked men on the stage. (Avoid all sentences using the word dong.) I thought perhaps it was an homage to the recently deceased Lotfi Mansouri who was famous for bringing lots of nudity to SFO. I hope so. At intermission we immediately began talking furiously about Mansouri's The Fiery Angel with almost nude acrobats and fully nude strippers. I talked about bringing my binoculars for the rest of that season to search the back rows of the chorus for nude women. And yes, I found some. What a great season.
I can't think of anything sensible to say about this. Patricia Racette was great, and is spending all of her spare time rehearsing Dolores Claiborne for the opening next week. The chorus work was outstanding.
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Faust: Jonas Kaufmann
Marguerite: Marina Poplavskaya
Méphistophélès: René Pape
Valentin: Russell Braun
Siebel: Michèle Losier
Marthe: Wendy White
Wagner: Jonathan Beyer
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Production: Des McAnuff
Today in Faust Live from the Metropolitan Opera in HD we had the privilege of hearing loud boos from the audience for the production designer Des McAnuff. The production is a bit Eurotrashy, but after the bizarre production in Santa Fe--Marguerite on roller-skates--it didn't really seem too boo worthy. One of the advantages of being in the house over being in a movie theater is that one can participate in the post production audience antics. I "bravo" at the movies, but it does seem a bit silly.
Faust in this production is an aging bomb maker between the two world wars. The current trend is to explain the opera as a dream or hallucination between the poison and dying. Faust flashes back to his own youth, and the costumes change. Faust and Mephistopheles always dress alike. Perhaps Satan is his alter ego. The sets are spare, abstract and gray.
The goal is to cast the sincerity of the medieval religious fable into the cynical frame of the present. The sincerity of the music plays against this cynicism. I was prepared for the production to be confusing, but I did not find this to be the case.
In case there was any doubt about who the opera is really about, our Marguerite Marina Poplavskaya's face was projected on the curtain for extended periods throughout the opera. These were films. Her facial expression would change gradually, but she never blinked. When Faust is still in his laboratory, Marina enters and sits down at one of the work stations. He is hallucinating about a real woman. I enjoyed her performance, but her expression in the Jewel Song was rather textbook for my taste. In her interview with Joyce DiDonato she worked on her sewing the entire time. Perhaps she has never sewn anything before.
As an old man, Jonas Kaufmann's hair will apparently go straight. His problem in this role is that it is hard to think of him as a cad. He was irresistible. That is the idea, isn't it?
Musically this Faust was somewhere between the extremely somber San Francisco Opera version and the really quite gay Santa Fe Opera version. (Remember I am an old woman who has lived in a time when "gay" had a variety of meanings.)
René Pape was explaining to the very elegantly dressed Joyce DiDonato that he had no desire to be a tenor. Why, in fact, would he wish to be anyone but René Pape? He was simply awe inspiring. In his interview he greeted his mother who was supposed to be watching from a movie theater in Nuremberg, not too far north in Bavaria from Munich where Jonas is from.
I enjoyed the calming effect of the modern context. I cried anyway.
Remember before you start carping that everyone in Faust has better stuff to sing than the tenor.
"Le veau d'or", the ballad of the golden calf, is for the bass-baritone Méphistophélès.
The men's chorus has this wonderful march.
The soprano Marguerite gets this incredible Jewel Song, sung here by my favorite Victoria de los Angeles.
Even the stupid brother Valentin gets this magnificent aria.
And Siebel, a completely insignificant person, gets this.
This is Faust's aria. Oh well. I'm just saying. I personally find the sentiments expressed in this aria, at a point in the opera when we know exactly what will happen, completely disgusting. The ovation is stunning. I have to say I wholeheartedly concur. This man knows his French opera. If you want to know how to pronounce French, listen to him. And Regine Crespin.
Here we have Mirella Freni's version of the ending.
The band of color across the bottom of the picture is actually a reflection in the moat that runs around the edge of the orchestra pit.
Faust and I have a relationship since it was one of the operas we performed in Ulm. Ours was neither as serious and sensible as last season's in San Francisco nor as silly as the one at the Santa Fe Opera.
Let's see. Guys in pointy helmets is Kaiser Germany, right? It's hard to guess the period for this production. Men are in top hats, but Marguerite's dress does not reach the floor. Does that make her a child?
Faust first appears in a wheelchair through the opening at the back of the stage where God's sunset was still in progress. To turn him back into a young man the devil is reduced to performing surgery. The fair where Faust meets Marguerite is staged as a carnival side show with a bearded lady, a fat man and a set of Siamese twins. Marguerite makes her appearance on roller-skates.
The ballet is left in--a first for me--and staged as six opera divas, each attempting to seduce Faust. It makes the opera too long.
One could go on and on listing the regie gimmicks. I liked it that when the soldiers return in triumph, they are followed on stage by three caskets. Serious and silly alternate in rapid order.
So how does this explain that it was a triumph? It is one of the great mysteries, one that Shakespeare understood, that a little comedy only makes the tragedy that much deeper.
Our conductor, Frédéric Chaslin, the chief conductor of the Santa Fe Opera, is an actual Frenchman. After my experience in Paris, I am convinced the French understand their opera in a way that mere foreigners cannot. We were spared unrelenting heavy tempos and thick orchestral playing, and in its place was lightness and charm, a winning combination.
His singers were with him all the way, beginning with the wonderful Marguerite of American Ailyn Pérez who has already made her debut in Milan, Berlin and Vienna. I look forward to seeing more of her.
Ours was the last performance for Bryan Hymel as Faust. He's also already sung in Milan. Faust appears to be on the heavy end of his repertoire. Mark S. Doss was vocally a bit light but generally an outstanding Mephistopheles.
My tour mates are quibbling over the production, an irresistible pastime, but for me it was the singing, the poise of the singing actors, and most of all the magnificent music making that made this an excellent Faust.
I am in danger of becoming jaded. I have seen some pretty amazing stuff this year, including some of the best French opera of my lifetime: Werther in Paris and Hamlet and Carmen from the Metropolitan Opera simulcasts. Werther in particular was quite staggeringly wonderful.
So here we are having to think of something to say about Gounod's Faust presented by the San Francisco Opera. Everyone says it's marvelous, so I guess it must be.
This is the opera the Germans insist on calling Margarite. I know this because I have a small German libretto amongst my collection of books. Faust is almost a secondary character. I listened to see if his name is ever spoken. People are constantly saying "Marguerite" but never "Faust." No one is worrying over Faust's soul, supposedly the whole point of the story.
The baritones saved the day. John Relyea as Méphistophélès virtually walks on water. I cannot get enough of him. He is sexy and sings like a dream. The best bit in the production is in the opening scene. Faust is whining away in a room full of corpses when one of them sits up, takes off his covering sheet and asks why Faust is so surprised. Nice. If he can raise the dead, what can he not do?
Brian Mulligan was an impressive Valentin. His aria in act one is my favorite part of the opera, and he was outstanding.
I was less thrilled with the rest of the cast. Why don't we just let it go at that.
Goethe's Faust was one of the primary inspirations for the Romantic. Berlioz was so taken with it that he composed music for it when he was only 15. The large work La damnation de Faust is not really an opera. He liked to imagine visions and set them to music without really bothering to worry about dramatic continuity.
The Metropolitan Opera is staging works extremely well. The stage is filled with a large four story grid where the singers, dancers and chorus work, including some dancers suspended on wires from above, with computer generated projections behind and in front. Faust's library is a projection quickly replaced by flocks of birds swirling in the background. I felt the episodic nature of the visuals completely suited the episodic nature of the work. Bravo.
I have not heard this work enough times to form an opinion of how it should be sung. The singers were Susan Graham, who introduced her own opera, Marcello Giordani as Faust and John Relyea as Mephistopheles. In my imagination Berlioz is melodramatic for a Frenchman, such as his melodramatic choral works: Requiem and Te Deum. I was relatively unprepared for the intensely lyrical performance presented here. Susan Graham is very fine in French repertoire precisely because her lyrical voice and style suit the lyrical French so perfectly.
I was much happier with Marcello Giordani as a partner for Susan than I was last week when he sang with Karita. He was fully up to the lyricism established for Faust. Even Relyea met the challenge of lyricism while looking very evil in his red leather outfit.
This must all be James Levine's idea. People in the movie theater, not many, only clapped for him.
