Jules Barbier and Michel Carré Act I Faust’s search for knowledge has been futile and he calls on the devil. Méphistophélès offers wealth, fame or power, but all Faust wants is youth. He is shown a vision of Marguerite and signs his soul away, being transformed into a young man. Act II The townspeople mill around at the ...
Karlheinz Stockhausen in the mid-twentieth century that provided the impetus for others to experiment with less familiar concepts and instruments. In the 1960s, German bands Neu, Can and Faust, as well as seminal US outfit The Velvet Underground and psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream, fused conventional rock instruments with sound effects, tapes and synthesizers ...
‘Mephistopheles’ Composed: 1866–67 Premiered: 1867, Venice Libretto by the composer after Goethe’s Faust Prologue Mefistofele wagers with God that he can win Faust’s soul. Act I Crowds celebrate Easter Sunday in Frankfurt. The aged Faust is bored and watches a mysterious friar, who follows him back to his study. When Faust opens his bible the friar reveals himself as ...
debut as Donald in Britten’s Billy Budd in 1971, and his Metropolitan Opera debut as Papageno (The Magic Flute) in 1981. He appeared at English National Opera as Busoni’s Faust in 1986 and as Billy Budd in 1988. Introduction | Contemporary | Classical Personalities | (Dame) Janet Baker | Contemporary | Classical ...
retired in 1906, but made occasional comebacks until 1914. Some of Patti’s best roles included Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello, Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust and the title role in Delibes’ Lakmé. Introduction | High Romantic | Opera Personalities | Osip Petrov | High Romantic | Opera ...
1871 and remained in the post until his death. Thomas was always susceptible to the influence of other composers and most especially to Charles Gounod. His Mignon (1866), imitated Gounod’s Faust and he repeated the exercise by modelling his Hamlet (1868) on Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Introduction | High Romantic | Opera Personalities | Joseph Tichatschek | High Romantic | Opera ...
(1813–77). Later he went to Paris, where he met Verdi and began to think about subjects for operas. The choice was between Nero, the Roman Emperor, and Faust – a subject that fascinated numerous writers, artists and composers during the nineteenth century. In the event Boito chose both subjects, but Faust came first, when he ...
1890–1957 Italian tenor Gigli made his debut in Italy in 1914, and sang Faust in Boito’s Mefistofele at Bologna and Naples the following year. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Mefistofele in 1920. The operas in which he appeared at the ‘Met’, where he sang for 12 seasons, included La bohème, Ponchielli’s La gioconda and Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine. ...
again, but Mireille (1864) was notable for its colourful score and Roméo et Juliette (1867) for its beautiful love music. Introduction | High Romantic | Opera Major Operas | Faust by Charles Gounod | High Romantic Personalities | Ludovic Halévy | High Romantic | Opera ...
lyric operas, a genre midway between grand and comic opera. Early successes include Sapho (1851) and Le médecin malgré lui (‘Doctor in Spite of Himself’, 1858), but it was Faust (1859) that established his enduring fame. Based on Goethe’s play, the plot centres on the character of Marguerite, for whom Gounod composed his finest melodies, such as ...
as an opera singer and recitalist, Fischer-Dieskau was the most recorded baritone of the twentieth century. His opera work is remembered for roles such as Berg’s Wozzeck, Busoni’s Faust and Reimann’s Lear, for which he gave the first performance. He was not well suited to the Romantic Italian repertoire, but had a great affinity for the works ...
Garden (1902) and Metropolitan Opera (1903) debuts in Rigoletto. He sang regularly at the Metropolitan thereafter, mainly in Verdi and Puccini, and also sang the French repertory including Faust, Manon and Samson et Dalila. He is considered by many to have been the greatest tenor of the twentieth century. Introduction | Modern Era | Classical Personalities | Alfred ...
1820–89, Italian Enrico Tamberlik, the Italian tenor, made his debut in Naples in 1841, as Enrico Danieli, singing Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Bellini’s Romeo and Juliet opera. Afterwards, while at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, he took the surname Tamberlik and retained it for engagements in London, St ...
(Fa’-leks Men’-del-son) 1809–47 German composer Mendelssohn was born into a cultured banking family, who in 1816 converted from Judaism to Christianity, adding ‘Bartholdy’ to their name. Felix studied the piano, theory and composition, and showed early talent, writing his first piece at the age of 11. There were also important non-musical inspirations for his composing at this ...
the monumental Fantasia Contrappuntistica (1910), reinterpret Bach for the twentieth century. Many of his later compositions are sketches for, or tributaries from, his masterpiece, the opera Doktor Faust (1924), a humanist and optimistic retelling of the ancient legend. Recommended Recording: Piano Concerto, Garrick Ohlsson, Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus (cond) Christoph von Dohnányi (Telarc) Introduction | Modern ...
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