Faust Symphony

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Franz Liszt in 1858

A Faust symphony in three character pictures , often referred to as the Faust symphony for short , is a work by the composer Franz Liszt . It is inspired by Goethe's drama Faust I and represents a symphonic poem closely related to the symphony form . It was made on the occasion of the inauguration of the Goethe and Schiller Memorial , the Wieland Memorial and the laying of the foundation stone for the Carl August Memorial on September 5th First performed in Weimar in 1857 , and is one of the composer's most important works.

Although Liszt had started work on the work earlier - there are sketches for a Faust symphony from the early 1840s - the Faust symphony was composed mainly in Weimar in the summer of 1854. The work was revised in the following years, including a. A male choir was added to the finale, singing excerpts from Faust II ( Chorus Mysticus ), as well as a solo tenor.

The duration of the symphony is around 65 to 70 minutes, it was written for an orchestra with three flutes (3rd also piccolo ), two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , Percussion , harp , organ and strings written; tenor solo and male choir join in the finale .

Sentence sequence

The work consists of three movements or character images that apply to the three main characters of Goethean poetry:

  1. fist
  2. Gretchen
  3. Mephistopheles

Due to the programmatic reference, the Faust Symphony can also be called a symphonic poem with choir . Comparable to the model of the 9th Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven , the second version goes beyond the scope of a pure orchestral work.

Sentence overview

fist

The broad movement - it lasts approximately 30 minutes - has the characteristics of a sonata main movement . The string motif opening the slow introduction with ascending three-tone groups includes all 12 tones of the octave and also provides material for the thematic events of the rest of the movement, in which three clear themes appear: a moving one in C minor, a cantable one in E major and a solemn one in E major. This movement can be seen as a synthesis of the entire symphony, which also explains its length, many of its themes and motifs are changed and transformed in various ways, taken up again in the course of the composition.

Gretchen

The slow middle movement is in A flat major and represents a character study that takes a narrative course: After the introduction by flutes and clarinets, a simple oboe melody sounds, accompanied by delicate figurations of the solo viola, which expresses Gretchen's virginity. A dialogue between the clarinets and violins describes how they naively pluck the leaves of a flower in a game of “He loves me, he doesn't love me”. Gretchen is obsessed with Faust; you can hear how Faust's theme increasingly flows into the music, until finally his and Gretchen's themes form a passionate love duet.

Mephistopheles

This part of the work, a scherzo, caricatures the themes of the first movement. The beginning, Allegro vivace ironico , is reminiscent of the witches' sabbath from the Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz , perhaps a homage to it, since Liszt got to know the work of Goethe through him. Mephistopheles, devil, spirit of negation, unable to create themes himself, takes Faust's themes from the first movement and distorts them in an ironic, diabolical way. Here Liszt's talent for thematic change shows in full size. In places the music reaches the edge of atonality through the heavy use of chromatics . A modified version of Faust's second and third themes then creates an “infernal” fugue. Mephistopheles is, however, powerless against Gretchen's innocence, so her theme remains undistorted and even displaces the spirit of negation towards the end of the work. In the second version, which is mostly played today, the chorus mysticus sounds solemnly at the end . The male choir sings the following lines from Goethe's Faust:

  Everything that is transitory
  is only a parable;
  The inadequate,
  here is the event;
  The indescribable,
  here it is done;
  The eternally feminine
  draws us up.

A tenor now sounds over the murmur of the choir and sings the last two lines, invoking the power of forgiveness through the eternal feminine. The symphonic poem ends with a radiant conclusion from the choir and orchestra, supported by chords held by the organ.

literature

  • Wulf Konold (Ed.): Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik IR . Piper / Schott, Mainz 1989. ISBN 3-7957-8228-7
  • Hans Renner, Klaus Schweizer (Hrsg.): Reclams concert guide orchestral music . 10th edition, Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart, ISBN 3-15-007720-6

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