Concert performance

« I am the Spirit of Life, the consoler of men. I will give you everything: happiness, pleasure, All that the wildest desire can dream of. Come, follow me. A change of air! » PART ONE, MÉPHISTOPHÉLÈS

DEVIL
ETERNAL YOUTH
PACT

Libretto by Hector Berlioz
and Almire Gandonnière

Faust, an ageing and depressed scholar and philosopher, is about to commit suicide when suddenly Méphistophélès appears, promising to take him on a journey and reveal to him the many beauties of the world. Faust signs a pact with the Devil and meets sweet Marguerite, who falls in love with him…

BERLIOZ, THE DOOMED ARTIST

Goethe’s Faust is perhaps the pinnacle of Romanticism. The fate of Faust and mankind in general, the exploration of the hero’s psychology, his initiatory journey and the sublime expression of Love were all matters of universal significance, which resonated with romantic spirits all over Europe. Berlioz was fascinated with Goethe’s poem, as translated by the French poet Gérard de Nerval, and consumed by the desire to set the story of this anti-hero to music. Faust was the prototype of the character with whom he identified, a man torn by an age-old dilemma. But he also empathised with the tragic fate of Marguerite, the victim of Méphistophélès’s diabolical manipulation.

First performed in Paris in 1846, La Damnation was conceived as a concert opera. The orchestra and choir play a major role, and some listeners will immediately recognise the famous Hungarian March, known as the Rakoczy March, which Louis de Funès famously conducted in La Grande Vadrouille. Several of the arias are also very well-known, such as the Chanson du Rat, the Chanson de la Puce, the Ballade du Roi de Thulé, and the great Air des Roses sung by Méphistophélès, all superb and unforgettable vocal highlights. We are staging the original concert performance, with a dream cast under the baton of Giampaolo Bisanti, our inspired music director!

• LAST PERFORMANCE AT THE ORW
  JANUARY 2017 (OPERA)
• WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE TAX SHELTER OF THE FEDERAL BELGIAN GOVERNMENT AND THE BEL ARTS FUND