Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (London Proms, August 8, 2017)
by Mark Gabrish Conlan • Copyright © 2019 by Mark Gabrish Conlan • All rights reserved Last night I ran Charles and I a quite interesting video of Hector Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust , composed in 1845 and an opera in all but name — Berlioz variously called it a “dramatic symphony” and a “dramatic legend,” but unlike his previous “dramatic symphony” on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (one of the most underrated pieces of classical music ever written, and one of the most hauntingly beautiful), it features four vocal soloists (as Faust, his girlfriend Marguerite, Mephistopheles — the incarnation of the Devil to whom Faust sells his soul — and Faust’s student and friend Brander), three choruses (men, women and boys) and a full symphony orchestra in a dramatized version of the Faust legend. Though Arrigo Boïto’s opera Mefistofele remains my favorite musical version of the Faust story, Berlioz’ whatchamacallit is also quite powerful and beautiful, though interestingly it works best in