Scenes from Goethe's Faust

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Robert Schumann, March 1850

The scenes from Goethe's Faust by Robert Schumann are an extensive, three-part work for solo voices, choir and orchestra with a lengthy genesis, which was only premiered in full after the composer's death.

Origin and premiere

Robert Schumann's “Scenes from Goethe's Faust” have a protracted history. Intellectually occupied with Goethe's Faust material since 1837 at the latest , Schumann excerpted parts from the second part that seemed suitable to him on a concert tour with his wife Clara in Dorpat in February 1844 , the final scene of which particularly appealed to him, and sketched the first musical material. In 1845, however, he wrote to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy to express his uncertainty whether he would complete the composition and ever publish it.

On June 25, 1848, this first composed, later 3rd section with the orchestra of the royal court orchestra and the choral society under Schumann's direction played in front of invited guests in the Dresden Coselpalais . Despite the successful acceptance by the audience, he was dissatisfied with the final chorus. On the occasion of Goethe's 100th birthday, the 3rd section, with the final chorus now reworked, was performed again on August 29, 1849 in three parallel concerts: in Dresden under the direction of Schumann, in Leipzig with the conductor Julius Rietz and in Weimar by Franz Liszt .

In the meantime, Schumann had begun composing further scenes in the later 1st and 2nd section in mid-July 1849, without having a clear idea of ​​the final overall plan. In September 1849, Franz Liszt recommended that the work be preceded by an overture. Schumann initially continued to work on the vocal parts, for example in Dresden in the spring of 1850, and then in Düsseldorf, where he had since moved, to create a piano reduction together with his wife . In August 1853, the composition of the overture, which he presented to his wife on September 13, 1853, took place.

Due to Schumann's resignation as music director in Düsseldorf at the end of 1853 and the collapse that followed a few months later, which led to his admission to the Endeich mental hospital , a full performance was no longer possible during Schumann's lifetime. This took place including the overture on January 14, 1862 in Cologne's Gürzenich Hall under the baton of Ferdinand Hiller . Before that, however, there was a private performance in the house of the singer Livia Frege in Leipzig on January 30, 1859 with Johannes Brahms at the piano.

The first edition of the overture appeared in connection with the printing of the complete works in November 1858 by the Berlin publisher Julius Friedländer . Not provided with an opus number by Schumann himself, the Faust scenes now figure in his catalog raisonné as WoO 3 .

occupation

The “Scenes from Goethe's Faust” require the following scoring: 2 flutes , piccolo , 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 4 horns , 2 trumpets , 3 trombones , bass tuba , timpani , harp and strings , as well as an 8-part double choir (with individual solo voices), a 4-part children's choir (with individual solo voices) and vocal soloists: Faust (baritone), Pater Seraphicus (baritone), Doctor Marianus (baritone), Gretchen (soprano), Una poenitentium (soprano), Böser Geist (bass) , Mephistopheles (bass), Pater Profundus (bass), Ariel (tenor), Pater Ecstaticus (tenor), Sorge (soprano), Martha (soprano), Not (soprano), Magna Peccatrix (soprano), Mangel (alto), Mulier Samaritana (old), Mater Gloriosa (old), Schuld (old), Maria Aegyptiaca (old).

description

The “Scenes from Goethe's Faust”, regarded as Schumann's greatest achievement in the field of dramatic music, can be seen as an idiosyncratic “conglomerate between literary cantata , secular oratorio and oversized choral symphony with redemption apotheosis”. The performance lasts about 2 hours.

In addition to the overture, the "Scenes from Goethe's Faust" are divided into three sections with a total of 13 musical numbers:

  • overture
  • 1st department
    • Scene in the garden. You knew me, oh little angel (Faust, Gretchen, Mephistopheles, Martha) (Verses 3163–3192, 3207–3210)
    • Gretchen in front of the picture of Mater Dolorosa. Oh bow down, you in pain (Gretchen) (verse 3587-3619)
    • Scene in the cathedral. How different, Gretchen, was it to you (evil spirit, Gretchen, chorus) (verse 3776-3834)
  • 2nd department
    • Ariel. Sunrise. Who hovers around this head in the airy circle (Ariel, Chorus, Faust) (Verses 4621–4685, 4695–4727)
    • Midnight. I am called the want (want, guilt, worry, need, fist) (verses 11384-11510)
    • Faust's death. Come in, you shivering lemurs (Mephistopheles, Faust, choir, children's choir) (verse 11511–11595)
  • 3rd division: Faust's transfiguration (verses 11844-12111)
    • Forest, it sways (chorus)
    • Eternal bliss, glowing love bond (Pater Ecstaticus)
    • Like a cliff at my feet (Pater Profundus, Pater Seraphicus, children's choir)
    • The noble member is saved (angel, choir, children's choir)
    • Here the view is free (Doctor Marianus)
    • You, the untouchable (Doctor Marianus, choir, Magna Peccatrix, Mulier Samaritana, Maria Aegyptiaca, Una poenitentium, Gretchen, Mater Gloriosa, children's choir)
    • Everything ephemeral is just a parable (chorus)

The most recently completed overture is in D minor and does not have a close thematic connection to the following vocal parts, apart from a few motivic reminiscences. It is doubtful whether Schumann thought of an independent performance option. Followed by the initiation of exposure , implementation and reprise and a triumphant coda in D major.

The 1st section is entirely dedicated to the figure of Gretchen, starting with the scene in the garden as a waltz- like duet in F major, until Mephistopheles and Martha step in. The following part, Gretchen's prayer before the Mater dolorosa , is in A minor and culminates in a dramatic outburst to the words “Help, save me from shame and death”. The scene in the cathedral has a dramatic-theatrical character, underlined by a choir intoning the dies irae and the finale in a full, organ-like orchestral setting in D minor.

The second section, at the beginning of which is Ariel's song in pastoral F major, focuses on the figure of Faust. The cheerful, life-affirming beginning changes into minor keys the following midnight . Faust's death begins in D minor and is introduced by the trumpet and gloomy trumpet chords , before the lemurs digging the grave start a childlike, ghostly song , summoned by Mephisto .

The third section is the most extensive part, which, with its symbolic- allegorical content given by Goethe's poetry, also formed the starting point for Schumann's composition. The most important tasks fall to the choir here. The orchestra-accompanied eight-part double choir with solo parts also provides the archaic, motet-like ending, the originally triumphant second part of which Schumann replaced in July 1847 with a more delicate, mystical version, although today's performances mostly prefer the first version. Philippe Herreweghe , for example, uses the later version in his 1998 recording.

reception

Schumann's “Scenes from Goethe's Faust” led a shadowy existence for a long time in concert business before several recordings were made from the 1970s, for example under Benjamin Britten , Pierre Boulez , Bernhard Klee , Claudio Abbado and Philippe Herreweghe .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Margit L. McCorkle (2003): Thematic-Bibliographical Catalog of Works , Munich, Henle
  2. ↑ John Daverio, Eric Sams:  Schumann, Robert. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  3. ↑ Peter Stalder: Performance review in the interpretation of Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Styriarte 2006, "Der Standard" from June 26, 2006, p. 26
  4. ↑ Robert Schumann: Scenes from Goethe's Faust. Score . In: Clara Schumann (Ed.): Robert Schumann's works . tape IX , no. 7 . Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, p. 280 .
  5. ^ Michael Struck: Review of "Burger-Güntert: Robert Schumann's› Scenes from Goethe's Faust ‹". Die Tonkunst, January 2008, No. 1, Vol. 2, pp. 115–120

literature

Web links