Louis Spohr: Faust (1852 Version)

Louis Spohr (Composer), Ewald Hesse (Conductor), Geoffrey Moull (Conductor), Bielefelder Philharmoniker (Orchestra), Claudia Taha (Performer), Diane Jennings (Performer), Drew Abbott (Performer), Drummond Walker (Performer), Eelco von Jardis (Performer), Eelco von Jordis (Performer), Helmut Kegler (Performer), Helmut Kelger (Performer), Ion Bric (Performer), Maria Kowollik (Performer), Martin Eichwalder (Performer), Michael Vier (Performer), Simone Nicola (Performer), Ulrich Neuweiler (Performer), William Pugh (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Claudia Taha, Diane Jennings, Drew Abbott, Drummond Walker, Eelco von Jardis, et al.
• Orchestra: Bielefelder Philharmoniker
• Conductor: Ewald Hesse, Geoffrey Moull
• Composer: Louis Spohr
• Audio CD (March 22, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Cpo Records
• ASIN: B000001RXN
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,347 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Overture

2. Nr. 1 Introduktion und Duett: Act One: In Sinnenlust so sinnlos leben (Faust, Mephistopheles)

3. Nr. 1 Introduktion und Duett: Act One: Ha! Du wahntest, armer Tor (Faust, Mephistopheles)

4. Nr. 2 Rezitativ: Act One: Wohlan, hinweg aus diesem Sinnentaumel! (Faust, Mephistopheles)

5. Nr. 3 Rezitativ und Arie: Act One: Der Holle selbst will ich Segen entringen (Faust)

6. Nr. 3 Rezitativ und Arie: Act One: Liebe ist die zarte Blute (Faust)

7. Nr. 4 Trinklied und Rezitativ: Act One: Der Wein erfreut des Menschen Herz (Fausts Freunde)

8. Nr. 4 Trinklied und Rezitativ: Act One: Der Wein soll leben (Faust Freunde)

9. Nr. 5 Rezitativ und Duett: Act One: O weine nicht, du holdes Maschen (Faust, Roschen)

10. Nr. 5 Rezitativ und Duett: Act One: Folg dem Freunde mit Vertrauen (Faust, Roschen)

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Nr. 12 Introduktion: Blocksbergszene

2. 'Brenne, Laterne, nahe und ferne'

3. Nr. 13 Chor, Rezitativ und Kavatine: 'Sende, Himmel, Segensfulle'

4. Nr. 13 Chor, Rezitativ und Kavatine: 'Durft' ich mich nennen sein eigen'

5. Nr. 14 Rezitativ: 'Komm Roschen, lass uns fliehen!'

6. Nr. 15 Rezitativ und Arie: 'Was fuhl ich!' 'O ich Tor! lch kann hier fragen?'

7. Nr. 16 Rezitativ und Arie: 'lch bin allein'

8. Nr. 16 Rezitativ und Arie: 'Wie dich nennen, seltsam neues Sehnen'

9. Nr. 17 Finale: 'Lang mogen die Teueren leben'

10. Nr. 17 Finale: 'lch freue mich des Anteils'

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Resurrection of Faust ..., March 15, 2011

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Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Louis Spohr: Faust (1852 Version) (Audio CD)

... the opera by Louis Spohr I mean, not the egomaniacal archetype portrayed by Marlowe and Goethe, has come and gone, and I missed it! So did YOU! So did everyone who didn't happen to attend one of the eight performances in Bielefeld, Germany, in 1993! Hearing this audio-only recording of that production makes one thing very clear: IT'S TIME TO DO IT AGAIN! Of all the 19th C operas based in any way on the Faust story, Spohr's is indisputably the most interesting, with the best music and the most satisfyingly profound libretto.

The libretto, by Josef Karl Bernard, is based on the legend of Faust and not influenced by Goethe's masterwork, even though "Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy" had been published in 1808. Instead, Bernard's libretto draws mainly on Faust plays and poems by Maximilian Klinger and Heinrich von Kleist.

Louis Spohr had left his court appointment at Gotha and taken up a post in Vienna at the Theater An der Wien. He composed his opera "Faust" in less than four months, May to September 1813 but had difficulties with getting it staged in Vienna. Though he took the manuscript privately to Giacomo Meyerbeer, who played it, with Spohr singing, it was not until Carl Maria von Weber took an interest in the score that it received its premiere. Weber conducted the first performance of Faust at the Ständetheater, Prague on 1 September 1816. Meyerbeer introduced it at Berlin. In its original form, the opera was a Singspiel in two acts. In 1851, Spohr turned the piece into a grand opera in three acts, replacing the spoken dialogue with recitative. This version received its premiere at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden, London on 15 July 1852.

I haven't seen or heard the original 1813 score of Faust, only this mid-century revision. If indeed any grand portion of the later music was included in the first score, then Louis Spohr was one of the most astonishing innovators of the 'classical' era. Spohr is said to have favored Mozart's music greatly over that of Beethoven, and Spohr's chamber music in fact quite Mozartean, but "Faust" has Beethoven's heroic influence all over it despite the fact that "Fidelio" was still being revised when "Faust" was composed. Spohr went on to be a major 'champion' of the operas of Richard Wagner, and I suspect that modern audiences would hear Faust as "the best Wagner opera of the 18th Century." That's not a put-down! This opera has Wagnerian power expressed with Mozartean coherence. I've never heard anyone propose a connection before, but it seems to me that the tavern scenes of Spohr's Faust must have been the inspiration for Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann". Spohr was immensely popular in the 19th C. I'd wager that, once you start looking, you might find his influence in more than a few later composers' work. The oblivion into which Spohr has fallen is unaccountable. I want to hear this Faust staged, and I want it NOW!

Hearing an opera on CD is no substitute for hearing it sung on stage, but at least the vast drama and witty variety of Spohr's music will make an impact, especially if you follow the libretto in German or in the English translation. None of the singers on this 1993 recording are particularly well-known, but they're all very competent, particularly Diane Jennings in the role of Kunigunde and Michael Vier in the title role. Conductor Geoffrey Moull and the Bielefelder Philharmoniker are no slouches, either. The sound quality, as everyone has learned to expect from CPO, is first rate.

Bielefeld, by the way, is a city of about 350,000 in the Lippe region of Germany, on the pass that separates the northern and southern Teutoburg Forest. Its opera stage is part of the splendid modern Bielelfeld Theater, where 500 or more performances are offered every year. It's not one of my favorite picturesque German cities, not by any means, but you can easily spend a week there without ever leaving the theater except to sleep.

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Louis Spohrs great romantical Opera, January 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Louis Spohr: Faust (1852 Version) (Audio CD)

This recording of Spohr's Faust is performed by very good singers (of the small Opera in Bielefeld/Germany). Diane Jennings is perfect in the role of Kunigunde and she lives the comlete character by her voice. The main character is sungen by Michael Vier, a warm and soft barritone. Bat the best performer is Eelco von Jordis, Mephisto himself... It is great to listen to Mephisto's words, which will Faust last kill. In this recording you are feeling the emotions of the acteurs, you become part of the opera. The "Rezitativ-Fassung" von 1852 shows, that Louis Spor (Amazom named him Ludwig) is much more than a simple violin-teacher. The Overture e.g. is a complex work.