by Charles Gounod

Welcome to Faust!

Faust: A Tragedy is the title given Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s masterpiece on which the libretto for the opera is based. Yet it might almost as easily be described as a musical comedy, in that it has many comic passages, features many songs and lacks a tragic ending. Faust himself is not a classic tragic figure either. In fact, his characteristic yearning for experience and knowledge created a type for the Romantic age still known as the Faustian hero, though he can easily seem more of a villain that a hero; and the purported villain—Mephistophélès—is one of the most likable characters in the play!  

There are many different ways to interpret Faust. Is it a morality play, a fairy tale for adults, or a comedy about human foibles? However you interpret it, the opera is hugely entertaining, filled with some of the most sensuous, melodious tunes ever written. It remains one of the great Romantic masterworks of the 19th century.

Renay Conlin