The Faust Connection
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Poster art from the F.W. Murnau’s film of Faust (1926)
In 1829, Hector Berlioz wrote a short work based on Goethe's Faust, published it at his own expense, and then had second thoughts. He quickly rounded up every copy he could find--and destroyed them.
Fifteen years later, he pulled out the abandoned manuscript and revamped it into a longer, more exciting work--but not before he had urged Franz Liszt to read Faust, prompting him to write his own setting of the famous tale of the man who sold his soul to the devil.
In this hour, how a single book inspired Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner--indeed, an entire generation of composers.
FEATURED RECORDINGS
| Title |
Group/Artist |
Catalog # |
UPC |
| Faust by Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner |
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Yutaka Sado |
Erato 8573-80234-2 |
685738023424 |
| Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique |
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis |
BBC MM113 |
[none] |
| Liszt: Transcriptions |
Leslie Howard |
Hyperion CDA66346 |
034571163468 |
| Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust, etc. |
Orchestra of Paris and Paris Opera Chorus, Georges Pretre. |
EMI 0946 3 81493 2 3 |
094638149323 |
| Liszt: A Faust Symphony |
Chicago Symphony and Chorus, Georg Solti. |
London 417 399-2 |
028941739926 |
| Wagner: Die Walkurie |
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti. |
Decca 478 8370 |
028947883708 |
