It’s been a while since my last Liberty Fund article, but I’ve got a new one on “Marlowe, Goethe, and the Faust Legend”. If you’ve read The Magic Battery or the related stories I’ve posted on this site, you know the Faust story fascinates me.
The story was posted to the Liberty Fund site about a month ago, after sitting with a promise of eventual publication since last year. I only found out when they paid me.
Spohr and Faust. You knew I couldn’t resist writing about that combination, didn’t you? The delay was in finding an adequate recording. Years ago, I got a CD set where the opera was so heavily cut it was incomprehensible. Since then, I’ve gotten a CPO recording of the 1852 version by the Bielefeld Opera. It’s complete or nearly so, but the download from Presto Music doesn’t include a booklet. I need a libretto to follow along, and there’s a libretto for reading or downloading here. It’s got a lot of typos, as if it was made from an uncorrected scan, but it will do. The Capriccio recording has brutal cuts, and I can’t recommend it.
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In The Magic Battery, I play off the legend of Faust. There are many well-known versions of the story, including Marlowe’s play, Goethe’s play, and Gounod’s opera. Liszt was fascinated with the story and wrote a Faust Symphony as well as the Mephisto Waltzes. My treatment is a free one, but it starts from what’s known of the historical Faust. Or should I should say historical Fausts?
Sculpture above Auerbach’s Cellar in Leipzig, depicting a scene from Faust