Faust versus Faust in Music and Vision 8 Novembre

Faust versus Faust
Two concerts conducted by Antonio Pappano,
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Faust is a myth that since the Middle Ages has enthralled many writers, composers and intellectuals. Just to list all of them would require a few pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The best known versions are the works by Christopher Marlowe and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; they have inspired several musicians from the early eighteenth century to nowadays. This year, the rich 2011-2012 symphonic program of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia started with two concerts on the Faust myth under the baton of its musical director, Antonio Pappano. The former was the inaugural concert on 22 October (also repeated on 23 and 24 October) when Mahler's Eighth Symphony (generally named The Symphony of a Thousand) was presented. The latter was the second concert on 5 November 2011 (repeated on 7 and 8 November) when a new commission by Matteo D'Amico had its world premiere and Franz Liszt's Faust-Symphonie was performed. Between 24 October and 5 November, the top-class facilities of the Parco della Musica (three concert halls, a theatre, music and book shops, restaurants in a green area in a fairly central part of Rome's North Western district) were used for an annual extravagance -- the Rome Film Festival -- and could not be devoted to their statutory purpose: music.
I was in the audience on 22 October and 5 November. In this review, however, I go in reverse order, ie I start from the second of the two concerts, for three reasons: a) to give priority to the world premiere; b) The Symphony of a Thousand (as performed by the RAI and Maggio Musicale complexes) was recently analyzed in A Double Experiment in the 8 September edition of Music & Vision; and c) Mahler drew inspiration for his monumental work from Liszt's equally monumental Faust-Symphonie, and both symphonies share the features of being seldom performed because of the orchestral and vocal resources they call for. More fundamentally, Mahler and Liszt's works are both based on Goethe's, whilst D'Amico follows Marlowe. As M&V readers will know, in Goethe's work, Faust is redeemed by his efforts to improve living standards for the rest of the humanity -- his pact with the devil was in the interest of scientific research and worldwide well-being. Instead, in Marlowe's, Faust is damned to hell; his agreement with Mephistopheles had the purpose of obtaining power for himself over the rest of humanity -- for sexual pleasure and enrichment.
D'Amico's work is titled Veni, Veni Mephistophilis -- ie Faust's invitation to the Devil to embrace him and take his soul. It is a twenty minute piece for large orchestra, female chorus and a tenor. It follows two scenes from Marlowe quite closely: the embrace between the protagonist and Mephistopheles, and Faust's death and damnation. As in Marlowe's play, there is no hope, whilst in another major musical work drawn from Marlowe (Ferruccio Busoni's Doktor Faust), the scientist is damned, but his son, although only a baby when the curtain falls, may accomplish great things for humanity. The 'Veni, Veni Mephistophilis' embrace is very carnal, nearly sensual; it could be a reference to Marlowe's reported bi-sexuality, and also as a cause for his early death (at the age of twenty nine) during a brawl. Listeners ought not to expect either any great innovation or any concession to the avant-garde, or even to the twelve note row system: the score is tonal, basically late romantic, with excellent timbral counterpoints to the woodwinds, the strings and the brass, and with some flair of expressionism. Thus, it is the style which most pleases the audience of the huge Santa Cecilia main concert hall (with 2,800 seats). It is at the same time, a large and tense reflection on Faust's damnation where the protagonist (Gregory Kunde, this time in very good shape) dialogues with the orchestra and the chorus (which fulfills different roles: women, good angels, evil angels). Marlowe's text is mostly in Italian rhyming verse translation (with the exception of the last section), whilst in my opinion, the original English text would have been musically more meaningful.
Liszt's is a very different reading of the myth, not only because it is based on Goethe's rather than on Marlowe's but because the rarely performed Faust-Symphonie would have been considered innovative, even avant-garde when it was premiered in 1857. It is useful to recall that Liszt had made the small city-state of Weimar the center of European musical innovation at the time; in its small Opera House, Wagner's Lohengrin had its premiere and musical research found a welcoming roof there. The magnificent score is innovative even now. Firstly, it is half-way between a symphony and a symphonic poem. Then, its three parts are psychological analyses of the three protagonists of Goethe's UrFaust (the first version of the masterwork): Faust, Marguerite (Gretchen) and Mephistopheles. The final movement is an epilogue from the final scene of the full Faust, the redemption of the protagonist and of humanity -- with just the same two lines concluding The Symphony of a Thousand. There the human voice enters the orchestral score: a tenor (Kunde) and a men's chorus. The total duration is nearly seventy minutes, but the movements are quite different in size and content. The initial 'Faust' movement is a very loose 'sonata' form with a short central development and a protracted recapitulation, with a process of thematic transformation -- an opening theme made up of arpeggio and augmented fifths and a slow crescendo at the end with chromatic elements (quite a novelty at that time). It lasts over thirty minutes; it a portrait of both the protagonist and of the composer. The 'Marguerite' movement is in the mellow and affectionate A flat major: flutes, clarinets, oboes and strings detail her virginal innocence at first, and her obsession with Faust later, as well as her final tragic end. It lasts about fifteen minutes. The compact twelve minute 'Mephistopheles' movement is where chromaticsm and even atonality appear together with the rhythm of a fantastic 'scherzo'. Then the real surprise: the short and very diatonic epilogue in C major with the tenor and the 'Chorus Misticus'. No doubt, the mid-nineteenth century audience was flabbergasted. Today's audience is enthralled.
Before making a few general comments on Pappano and the orchestra, let us spend a few words on The Symphony of a Thousand. It is rarely heard live because of the resources it requires; if not a thousand performers, at least some five hundred. It is a real blessing to hear it twice within the short span of a few weeks. It is made up of two parts: a late Romantic adaption of the chorus Veni Creator (composed by the Archbishop of Mainz in 850 AD or earlier) and the final scene of Goethe's Faust. In 1980 Michael Steinberg published documents showing how Mahler was attracted by the second part of Faust, especially by the relationship between the protagonist and Helen of Troy; an episode, however, ignored in the final version. The very concise choral first part is juxtaposed with an expanded and very dramatic second part for a total duration of about eighty minutes. The second part is made up of individual short scenes connected by Leitmotive; in the finale, the ascending theme of Veni Creator is back in fortissimo with full orchestra, double chorus and most of the soloists in an exploding E Flat of the last words Das Ewig Weibliche/Zieht uns hinan. Just the same words that conclude Liszt's Faust-Symphonie which Mahler himself had conducted a few times.
The conceptual aspects are rather complex and dealt with in A Double Experiment. There are a variety of ways to approach The Symphony of a Thousand: Claudio Abbado has his philosophy in print, Georg Solti has a delicate, nearly chamber music, touch, Seiji Ozawa is full of fire. Gianandrea Noseda (as well as Pappano) has a long experience of music as theatre. Thus 'his' Symphony of a Thousand is a highly dramatic melodrama. In Rimini, Gianandrea Noseda's baton was swift but the tempos were slowed to accentuate the dramatic impact. There is a strong justification for this: the text of the second part is full of scenic details -- so many that I have often wondered why, to the best of my knowledge, it has never attracted opera houses for an expensive, but enthralling, fully staged production. Pappano has strong feel for theatre: thus, under his baton The Symphony of a Thousand becomes an operatic melodrama. The scenic approach also dominates his conducting of D'Amico's Veni, Veni Mephistophilis as well as of Liszt's Faust-Symphonie. The Santa Cecilia chorus was The China National Chorus; Ciro Visco and Vijay Upadhayaya directed the two choral formations as well as the large children's chorus.
Pappano had two distinct advantages over Noseda: a) better acoustics than at the Turin Lingotto or the Rimini Congress, and b) a better group of soloists. (In the Turin-Rimini performances some of the soloists had to be called in at the last minute.) Among the eight soloists, especially important were Christopher Maltman Pater Ecstaticus), Manuela Uhl (Magna Peccatrix) and Sara Mingardo (Mulier Samaritana). Doctor Marianus, sung and acted by Nikolai Schukoff, was quite interesting. In line with Pappano's concept, they were credible real characters, not just voices.
A final footnote: Gregory Kunde has made his career mostly with performing Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti bel canto. His voice has darkened. He appears to have had quite a few problems; eg, I remember a very poor vocal performance of his in Rossini's Semiramide at the 2003 Rossini Opera Festival. Now, on the one hand, he has recovered. (We will see how he will fare inSemiramide on 18 November at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.) On the other hand, he has taken the intelligent route of transitioning to a different type of repertory -- what Chris Merritt did a few years ago.
The audience's reactions? Ovations on 22 October, a warm success on 5 November.
Copyright © 8 November 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

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