Parts 1 and 2
Tickets may be obtained from the Royal Festival Hall or usual agents
A studio performance: tomorrow (Third)
BBC SYMPHONY CONCERTS: SEASON 1952-3 BERLIOZ 'The Damnation of Faust'
ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY PAUL ENGLAND
Parts 1 and 2: 7.45
⢠MARGARET: Joan Hammond (soprano) FAUST: Richard Lewis (tenor) MEPHISTOPHELES: Marian Nowakowski (bass) BRANDER: Hervey Alan (bass-baritone) CHORUSES OF PEASANTS, SOLDIFRS, REVELLERS, STUDENTS, NEIGHBOURS, 'SYLPHS AND GNOMES, SPIRITS OF CAPRICE, LOST SOULS AND DEMONS, CELESTIAL SPIRITS BBC Choral Society BBC Symphony Orchestra (Chorus-Master, Leslie Woodgate) (Leader, Paul Beard) Conductor, Sir Malcolm Sargent FROM THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON
Parts 3 and 4: 9.15
The scene of PART 1 is a plain in Hungary. Faust, alone at sunrise, greets the spring. Peasants make merry and troops march by. PART 2: Faust's study in North Germany. Weary of the world, he is about to take poison, when he hears an Easter Hymn outside. He decides to go on living. Mephistopheles appears and promises him the ' glowing joys ' he has dreamed about. They go off to Auerbach's cellar in Leipzig. After a drinking chorus, Brander sings a song about a rat. A mocking Amen chorus follows, then Mephistopheles' song of the flea. The scene changes to wooded meadows on the banks of the Elbe. Sylphs sing and dance while Faust has a vision of Margaret. Mephistopheles promises to take him to her home, and they follow a crowd of soldiers and students.
After an introduction, in which drums and trumpets sound the retreat, PART 3 brings us to Margaret's room, where Faust is concealed. She in her turn has dreamed of him, and she sings the ballad of the King of Thule. Mephistopheles evokes evil spirits and will-o'-the-wisps; he then serenades Margaret. She sees Faust, and they sing ardently of their love. But Mephistopheles breaks in, warning them of the neighbours' arrival. In PART 4 Margaret is deserted. Faust invokes the powers of nature; when he learns that Margaret is accused of poisoning her mother and is condemned to death, he tries to save her by making a pact with the devil. Faust and Mephistopheles ride together to the abyss, and the work ends with a celestial chorus welcoming the soul of Margaret.
(Harold Rutland)
