Opera in five acts with libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on the eponymous legend and Goethe's play, premiered at the Théâtre-Lyrique in 1859.
Since its creation in 1859, Gounod's Faust has been at the pinnacle of French opera. Goethe's text had such a profound impact on the Romantics that Liszt, Berlioz, Gounod and then Boito set it to music. Gounod was twenty years old when he fell in love with this work during his stay at the Prix de Rome in 1839. There is obviously plenty of material here: the hero, in the twilight of his life, wants to poison himself because all science and belief seem futile to him. Doctor Faust calls on the Devil and sells his soul to evil in order to regain his youth, thanks to the diabolical character of Mephisto. What follows is a love as ardent as it is impossible with Marguerite... until death.
