Faust: A Lyric Drama in Five Acts

Faust: A Lyric Drama in Five Acts

1. The original text is dual column, with English on the LHS and French on the RHS. In this version, the complete English text is presented first, followed by the complete French text. The legend of the magician Faust and his compact with the Devil comes from remote antiquity. At first in the form of folk tales in many lands, through ballads and the primitive drama it found its way into literature. It remained for the master-poet, Goethe, to fuse all the elements of the legend into an imaginative drama of unequaled ethical and poetic interest, to give the story the form in which it appeals most strongly to the modern mind. Innumerable musical works of every form have drawn inspiration from the story of Faust. Wagner's concert-overture, Liszt's symphony, and the beautiful fragments by Schumann are among the noblest of such works. Stage versions of the legend have been numerous, but the first really poetic creation was Spohr's opera of "Faust," composed in 1813. Since its appearance there has been an abundance of Faust operas by English, German, French and Italian composers down to the imaginative but fragmentary "Mefistofele" of Boito (1868). But of all the stage versions that have claimed the public attention, that of Barbier and Carr, made after Goethe's drama and set to music by Charles Gounod, is far and away the most popular, and may be regarded, in its lyric dress, as the most successful also. There exists scarcely a single rival to the popularity of Gounod's "Faust" among opera-goers. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 45806
Author: Barbier, Jules
Release Date: May 28, 2014
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Contributor (Author): Carré, Michel, 1819-1872, Gounod, Charles, 1818-1893