• Alfred Schnittke
  • Historia von D. Johann Fausten (The History of D. Johann Faustus), opera (1983)

  • Hans Sikorski Russian Works (USA, Canada and Mexico only)

Available in the USA, Canada and Mexico only

  • 3(pic:afl).3(ca).3(2Ebcl,asx,bcl,barsx).3(cbn)/4441/timp.5perc.hp.egtr.bgtr.cel.hpd.pf.org.2syn/str; Old instruments: Zwerchpfeife.crumhorn.lute.zither
  • alto, male, or mixed chorus
  • Countertenor, Alto, 3 Tenors, 6 Baritones, 2 Basses, Silent Roles
  • Libretto by Jörg Morgener and Alfred Schnittke after folk legend (1597)
  • German

Programme Note

Synopsis:
Dr Faustus signs a pact with the devil. In return for knowledge and power, Mephistopheles will claim his soul. When Faustus asks for a wife to be provided, instead of a sacred contract of marriage, Mephistopheles offers to find him a woman for his bed every day and night. Later the devil takes him on a journey to see both heaven and hell. An old Christian man appears and offers to help save him from the terrors of hell. But Mephistopheles appears and furiously forces him to sign a second pact, this time with Lucifer himself. When twenty-four years have passed, Mephistopheles finally comes to claim his part of the bargain and tears Faustus into pieces. The moral of the story, as the chorus tells us, is to live a sober and vigilant life and to resist evil.

Reviews