Faust: versions avec dialogues by Charles Gounod

Abstract

Reviewed by: Faust: versions avec dialogues by Charles Gounod Mary Jean Speare Charles Gounod. Faust: versions avec dialogues. Edited by Paul Prévost. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2020. (L'Opéra français) [2 volumes (clxix, 1089 pp.) Front matter in Fr., Eng., and Ger.: preface, p. vii–viii; introduction, p. ix–lxxxviii; libretto in Fr., p. lxxxix–clxv, score, p. 1–738; appendices in Fr., p. 741–971; crit. rep. in Fr., p. 973–1080; table of scenes in Fr., p. 1080–1084; facsimiles, p. 1085–1089. Cloth. BA 8714-01. ISMN 979-0-006-56325-8. $1,780.] One of the most celebrated and performed works of the French operatic stage is Faust, by Charles Gounod (1818–1893) to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, but the work that is performed today, which is sung throughout, is quite different from the work that was first performed on 19 March 1859 at the Théâtre-Lyrique. Charles Gounod—Faust (versions dialogues) is the sixth work to appear in a new series, L'Opéra français, published by Bärenreiter, Paul Prévost, editor. Charles Gounod—Faust (version opéra), with recitatives and added ballet, which the editor Paul Prévost identifies as the third version of the work, appeared in the series in two volumes in 2016 to be followed by the versions with spoken dialogue (which Prévost labels versions one and two) in 2020. Prévost has provided scholars and performers a rare opportunity to study a work with the complete spoken dialogue (parlé) included in the score. This fact is significant because most nineteenth-century scores only include part of the spoken dialogue with cues (répliques) indicating the last few words of the dialogue leading to musical numbers. Prévost's introduction is a fascinating essay that explains the history of the work from genesis through reception history and that documents the changes it went through. At the outset (p. ix), Prévost explains that the first version was submitted to the Théâtre-Lyrique in 1858 and after many revisions up to and after the March 1859 premiere, the second version is reflected in the first piano-vocal score, which appeared in June 1859. He goes on to state that unfortunately a complete first version is not possible because some sources could not be located (p. ix). Finally, it is important to note that, according to Prévost, the exact form that Faust took in the premiere on 19 March 1859 is unclear, but that it was probably somewhere between the first and second versions (p. xviii). The edition contains the expected detailed critical notes and a thorough discussion of all the sources and appendixes containing fragments, some of which were discovered as late as September 2019 (see p. xxxiv). One of the most tantalizing fragments is from Marguerite's lost mad scene in prison after she has killed her child (pp. 925–31). The text is intact and is given in the libretto (p. clviii), but only part of the music remains, mostly in the string parts with a few fragments of Marguerite's melody. Prévost explains that the complete number, which had [End Page 591] been removed from the autograph, appeared in 1979 in a sale catalog, misidentified as being from Gounod's Le Tribut de Zamora and that its location is unknown (p. 988). In the course of the opera, we see Marguerite's yearning for Faust at the spinning wheel ("Il ne revient pas"), her torment at the hands of Méphistophélès in the church scene and the terrible moment when her dying brother Valentin curses her. Without a solo number for Marguerite in the prison scene before the arrival of Faust, the plot seems incomplete. Faust arrives at the scene and wakes Marguerite ("Ah! C'est le voix du bien aimée!"), but there has been no significant expression of her grief. Thanks to this edition, with the string parts that exist, it might be possible to compose a believable substitute number for this important scene. Prévost's discussion of the work and its sources (such as in the lengthy introduction) is translated...