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In the libretto of the opera "Faust" by Gounod kept more or less intact those episodes of the first part of the tragedy, which differ in "theatrics" and efficiency (the scene of Faust and Mephistopheles, Valentin, ending the duel and the murder of Valentin, the scene in prison) Or episodes of pure lyrical plan (the scene of Faust and Marguerite in the garden), or reveal the individual features of the characters. On the contrary, those parts of the tragedy, which comprise the basic philosophical and social sense and the most monumental in scale, are omitted in the opera, and the rest received more than pallid musical incarnation.
The shape of the main characters in the opera, too, has undergone a significant change compared with the tragedy of Goethe.
In the image of Faust smoothed acute contradictions and "duality" of his consciousness, the eternal frustration caused by the desire to know the world, accentuated the traditional features of a lyrical and romantic opera hero.
Gounod was unable to transmit the music of the opera all the richness and complexity of the image of Mephistopheles, embodying the spirit of militant criticism of the era. Mephistopheles in Gounod's acts more as a personification of supernatural mysterious forces, typical for drama and opera of the Romantic era. But the devilish irony, all the corrosive skepticism, withering mockery of honest impulses of the human soul finds its vivid expression in opera.
The image of Margaret became central to the opera (not by chance at the opera staged in Germany, called "Margarita") as the embodiment of purity, chastity and spiritual nobility. Wholeness and completeness of its appearance are disclosed in the opera more consistently and harmoniously. But relations between Faust and Marguerite in the opera were given a slightly different color. In "Faust," Goethe Margarita tragedy is compounded cruelty of the world, condemned, had thrown her in jail and sentenced to death for the evil to which it pushed Faust. |