The story of Faust selling his soul to Satan in exchange for a life of power and debauchery is based on a 16th century German myth which has retained its popularity and potency for 500 years.
Christopher Marlowe turned it into a play, Doctor Faustus, in the early 17th century; Goethe wrote his more influential Faust at the end of the 18th century; and several operas have been composed on the same theme, of which Gounod’s Faust, first performed in the composer’s home city of Paris in 1859, is the best known and the closest to Goethe’s vision.
Both the moral message underlying it and the traditions of French opera make it difficult for modern tastes. While staying true to the original, however, the director David McVicar, however, added some delightful touches to appeal to 21st century eyes when he produced it in 2004. It is still this version we enjoy today, this time revived by Peter Renton.
Gounod’s music, with several recognisable arias, is easy to listen to and beautifully performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under the Italian conductor Maurizio Benini. The cast, however, while perfectly adequate, lacked the outstanding star quality we have become used to in this production.
The title role was taken by Romanian tenor Stefan Pop whose voice was excellent, but his acting lacked the urgency to bring the part fully to life. The transformation scene, in which he changes from an old man to a vigorous, ambitious young stud, is one of McVicar’s most impressive moments in the opera, but this Faust seemed to take it all in his stride without showing enough joy in the results.
Polish bass Adam Palka was more convincing as a Mephistopheles. He sang a good sneer but apart from the scene in which he appears in a dress, might have brought even more devilishness to the role. Both these parts have been sung and acted with more charisma in the past.
The best performance, both vocally and acting, came from German-born soprano Carolina López Moreno as Marguerite, the poor girl after whom Faust lusts. She was slow to make her mark, mainly because the first act of the opera is rather ponderous, but as she increasingly became a victim of Faust’s devilish deal, she gave a very fine performance.
French opera of Gounod’s time tended to be rather slow and always included a ballet sequence to please the audience. McVicar handles this beautifully, locating his ballet in Hell itself, with Mephistopheles in a ball gown and the dancers becoming more and more raucous, even portraying Marguerite’s sex, pregnancy and madness, killing her own child. It is all part of the story but this way of showing it is highly effective as well as giving some point to the ballet. Indeed, throughout the performance, the devilish dancers are perhaps the most impressive of all.
The moral of the story, I fear, is that when considering selling your soul to Satan, you should get a good lawyer to draw up the contract. Even Mephistopheles suffered by the intervention of Heavenly presences coming to save Marguerite, and possibly Faust as well, at the end. On the whole, I think this was a four-star performance of a five-star production of a three-star opera. Well worth seeing, but it could have been better.
Faust is playing at the Royal Opera House on various dates until 10 June.
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