Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber Notes:
Obvious misspellings and omissions have been corrected.
The original text displayed the two versions, English and French,
in two column format, English on left, French on right. This
e-text lists the English version first, followed by the French
version.
The [oe] ligature has been replaced with simply "oe".
Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is
surrounded by underscores.]

GRAND OPERA
LIBRETTOS

FRENCH
AND ENGLISH TEXT
AND MUSIC OF THE PRINCIPAL AIRS

FAUST

BY
GOUNOD

Boston: OLIVER DITSON COMPANY: New York

LYON & HEALY, INC.
_Chicago_

WINTHROP ROGERS, LTD.
_London_

OPERA SCORES

All the vocal scores have English text together with the foreign text mentioned below. Unless otherwise specified, these books are bound in paper.

GRAND OPERAS

=AÏDA= =Giuseppe Verdi= =2.50=
In four acts. Italian text

=BOHEMIAN GIRL= =Michael W. Balfe= =2.00=
In three acts

=CARMEN= =Georges Bizet= =2.50=
In four acts. French text

=CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA= =Pietro Mascagni= =2.00=
In one act. Italian text

=FAUST= =Charles Gounod= =2.00=
In five acts. French text

=LAKMÉ= =Léo Delibes= =3.00=
In three acts

=MARITANA= =William Vincent Wallace= =2.50=
In three acts

=MIGNON= =Ambroise Thomas= =2.50=
In three acts. Italian text

=SAMSON AND DELILAH= =Camille Saint-Saëns= =2.50=
In three acts

=TROVATORE, IL= =Giuseppe Verdi= =2.00=
In four acts. Italian text

LIGHT OPERAS

=BELLS OF CORNEVILLE, THE;
or, THE CHIMES OF NORMANDY=
In three acts =Robert Planquette= =2.50=

=BILLEE TAYLOR; or, THE REWARD OF VIRTUE=
In two acts =Edward Solomon= =1.50=

=BOCCACCIO; or, THE PRINCE OF PALERMO=
In three acts =Franz von Suppé= =2.50=

=DOCTOR OF ALCANTARA, THE=
In two acts =Julius Eichberg= =1.50=

=FATINITZA= =Franz von Suppé= =2.50=
In three acts. German and Italian text

=MARTHA= =Friedrich von Flotow= =2.50=
In four acts. German and Italian text

=MASCOT, THE= =Edmond Audran= =2.50=
In three acts

=OLIVETTE= =Edmond Audran= =2.00=
In three acts

=PINAFORE, H. M. S.; or, THE LASS THAT
LOVED A SAILOR=
In two acts =Sir Arthur Sullivan= =1.50=

=SORCERER, THE= =Sir Arthur Sullivan= =1.75=
In two acts

=STRADELLA= =Friedrich von Flotow= =2.00=
In three acts

Send for Descriptive Circular P--Oratorios, Cantatas,
Operas and Operettas.

OLIVER DITSON COMPANY

FAUST

_A LYRIC DRAMA IN FIVE ACTS_

BOOK BY
J. BARBIER AND M. CARRÉ

MUSIC BY
CHARLES GOUNOD

30

BOSTON: OLIVER DITSON COMPANY: NEW YORK

CHICAGO: LYON & HEALY, INC. LONDON: WINTHROP ROGERS, LTD.

COPYRIGHT MCMVI BY OLIVER DITSON COMPANY

CHARACTERS

FAUST _Tenor_
MEPHISTOPHELES _Bass-Baritone_
VALENTINE, MARGUERITE'S BROTHER _Baritone_
WAGNER, A STUDENT _Baritone_
MARGUERITE _Soprano_
SIEBEL, A YOUTH _Soprano_
MARTHA, FRIEND OF MARGUERITE _Mezzo-Soprano_

PEASANTS, TOWNSPEOPLE, SOLDIERS, STUDENTS, PRIESTS, BOYS, ETC.
The scene is in Germany in the sixteenth century.

PREFATORY NOTE

The legend of the magician Faust and his compact with the Devil comes from remote antiquity. At first in the form of folk tales in many lands, through ballads and the primitive drama it found its way into literature. It remained for the master-poet, Goethe, to fuse all the elements of the legend into an imaginative drama of unequaled ethical and poetic interest, to give the story the form in which it appeals most strongly to the modern mind.

Innumerable musical works of every form have drawn inspiration from the story of Faust. Wagner's concert-overture, Liszt's symphony, and the beautiful fragments by Schumann are among the noblest of such works. Stage versions of the legend have been numerous, but the first really poetic creation was Spohr's opera of "Faust," composed in 1813. Since its appearance there has been an abundance of Faust operas by English, German, French and Italian composers down to the imaginative but fragmentary "Mefistofele" of Boito (1868). But of all the stage versions that have claimed the public attention, that of Barbier and Carré, made after Goethe's drama and set to music by Charles Gounod, is far and away the most popular, and may be regarded, in its lyric dress, as the most successful also. There exists scarcely a single rival to the popularity of Gounod's "Faust" among opera-goers.

The love story with which the French librettists concerned themselves exclusively is wholly Goethe's conception, and finds no place in the old legends concerning the magician Faust. With true Gallic instinct they seized this pathetic episode as being best adapted for a lyric setting, and making the most potent appeal to the emotions of the spectators. But to the composer himself is due the credit of suggesting the story of Faust as a suitable subject for musical treatment.

THE STORY OF THE ACTION

ACT I.--Faust, an aged philosopher, who has grown weary of life, and of the vain search for the source of all knowledge, decides, after a nightlong vigil, to end his existence by taking poison. In the act of raising the cup to his lips his hand is arrested by the sound of merry voices of maidens singing in the early morning of the joy of living. Again he essays to drink, but pauses to listen to the song of the reapers on their way to the fields, voicing their gratitude to God. Excited to a frenzy of rage, Faust curses all that is good and calls upon the Evil One to aid him. Mephistopheles appears, and offers gold, glory, boundless power; but the aged doctor craves youth, its passions and delights. The fiend agrees that all shall be his if he but sign a compact, by which the devil serves Faust on earth, but in the hereafter below the relation is to be reversed. Faust wavers at first, but a vision of Marguerite appears, which inflames his ardor and dispels his hesitation; he drinks the potion and is transformed into a young and handsome man.