Faust by Gounod, ven 06 gen 2023, Da (2022/2023), Diretto da Walter Sutcliffe, Direttore d'orchestra Fabrice Bollon, Oper Halle, Halle, Germania

Faust« is a piece of enlightenment. Goethe prefaces it with a "prelude to the theater" in which director, author and actor argue about how a play should be performed. So it's not a »realistic« piece, but a model. It describes society as it was – and unfortunately still is. The setting is the theater itself. God and Satan discuss their work. Satan complains that he has become superfluous since mankind has been behaving satanically. You're going to hell without him. To comfort him, The Lord Satan proposes an experiment: there is a loner living and researching on the side. Will he become just as evil as the others if given the chance? I have seen Gounod's Faust in many productions. It always bothered me that they reproduce the clichés of the 19th century. The score, on the other hand, sticks surprisingly closely to Goethe's original text and even broadly emphasizes Mephisto's comic sides. The artificiality of the opera genre fits perfectly with Goethe's non-naturalistic dramaturgy. Gounod's wonderful music goes straight to the heart of his verse. Only at the end do I allow myself a liberty by identifying the final apotheosis of the opera with the final apotheosis of »Faust II«. I wonder what Gretchen's redemption would be if she personified "the eternal feminine"? In »Faust II« the »Supreme Being« is female. Scene after scene throughout the opera we witness what men do to the world. In view of this, I remind that Goethe wanted the deity to be female. I hope you fall in love with Gounod's Faust as much as I do.