Skip to main content

Festival Berlioz

The Damnation of Faust

Sunday

27.08.2023

21:00 — Château Louis XI

Tour

programme

Charles Dutoit
conductor

Chœur de Radio France
Les Petits Chanteurs de Lyon, Maîtrise de la Primatiale
choir

Marc Laho
tenor

STÉPHANIE D'OUSTRAC
mezzo-soprano

John Relyea
bass

Edwin Crossley-Mercer
baritone

Hector Berlioz

The Damnation of Faust, Op. 24


the music

When Gérard de Nerval translated Goethe's Faust in 1828, he introduced a whole generation of artists (including the young Berlioz!) to its strange world.
Following this reading, Berlioz began composing his Huit scènes de Faust (Eight Scenes from Faust), which in 1845 became part of a "dramatic legend": La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust), premiered at the Opéra-Comique in 1846.

The story takes place in Hungary and Germany in the Middle Ages. Faust wants to end his life by drinking poison. Easter carols rouse him from his despair and the demon Mephistopheles appears. He then introduces Faust to the young Marguerite on the banks of the Elbe. Despite his promise to return the next day, Faust seems to forget Marguerite and immerse himself in the contemplation of nature. But when Mephistopheles tells him that the young girl is condemned to death for poisoning her mother, he signs a pact with the devil to save her. Faust is then sent to the Underworld, while Marguerite is welcomed to heaven by the choir of celestial spirits.

This dramatic legend, rarely performed during Berlioz's lifetime, is brought to life by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Radio France choir, under the baton of maestro Charles Dutoit, present for the first time on the stage of the Château Louis XI!



the venues

OSR Live

video thumbnail

Johannes Brahms

Symphony No.3 in F major op. 90

Jonathan Nott

conductor

Recorded on 17 May 2018 at Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Cerrito 628

video thumbnail

Debussy - Ellington - Strauss | Jonathan Nott, Marc Perrenoud, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande