''Faustus, the Last Night'' is an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

in English by French composer

Pascal Dusapin Pascal Georges Dusapin (born 29 May 1955) is a French composer. His music is marked by its microtonality, tension, and energy. A pupil of Iannis Xenakis and Franco Donatoni and an admirer of Varèse, Dusapin studied at the University of Pari ...

, inspired by '' Doctor Faustus'' (c. 1588) by

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...

. The work was premiered on 21 January 2006 by the

Berlin State Opera The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of P ...

, a coproduction with the

Opéra de Lyon The Opéra de Lyon (also known as Opéra Nouvel, formerly Grand Théâtre) in Lyon, France, is the home of the Opéra National de Lyon. The original opera house was re-designed by the distinguished French architect, Jean Nouvel between 1985 and 19 ...

. It was first staged in the United States at the

Spoleto Festival USA Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due ...

2007.

History

''Faustus, the Last Night'' was commissioned by the

and the

Opéra National de Lyon The Opéra National de Lyon (), marketed as Opéra de Lyon during the last decade, is an opera company in Lyon, based and performing mostly at the Opéra Nouvel, an 1831 theater that was modernized and architecturally transformed in 1993. Histo ...

. The genesis of

's fifth opera took ten years before the composer began writing the play in earnest between 2003 and 2004. The composer chose Marlowe's morality play rather than Goethe's drama as the basis of the composition. He wrote his own English-language

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

, inspired also by

Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

, and

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-foun ...

. ''Faustus'' has been described as a work of ideas rather than actions. Dusapin's opera was premiered on 21 January 2006 at the

, conducted by

Michael Boder Michael Boder (9 November 1958 – 7 April 2024) was a German conductor of opera and concert who worked internationally. He was music director of the Basel Opera from 1989 to 1993, of the Liceu in Barcelona from 2008 to 2012, and principal cond ...

and staged by with

Georg Nigl Georg Nigl (born 1972) is an Austrian baritone in opera and concert, and a professor of voice at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. Performing internationally, he is known for roles in contemporary operas, such as creati ...

(Faustus), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (Mephistopheles), Robert Wörle (Sly), Jaco Huijpen (Togod), Caroline Stein (Angel) in the lead roles. Subsequently, the work was performed at the

where it was recorded on DVD. Jonathan Stockhammer conducted the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, and almost all Berlin soloists performed again with Urban Malmberg playing Mephistopheles. The first performance in the United-States was given at the

in June 2007. It was staged by David Herskovits, with

John Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

conducting the Festival Orchestra, and John Hancock in the title role."The Questions Are Big, but the Devil's in the Details"
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 3 June 2007.

Roles

Music

The composer regarded the Faustus tale as an

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

of man and power, the human obsession with power, and of light ("über den Menschen und die Macht, die Besessenheit von der Macht, vom Licht"); Faust could be a dictator, terrorist, or president. Faustus and Mephisto are like an old symbiotic couple. Their lines sometimes overlap, which a reviewer described as "blurring" the characters. Sly, a jestor from Shakespeare's ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunke ...

'', adds contrast. The opera's "conversational tone" about "thought and concept" has been compared to '' Capriccio''. In the orchestra, long chords contrast to short eruptions ("explosionsartigen Ausbrüchen"). A reviewer of ''

'' notes:

References

External links

''Faustus, The Last Night''
on the website of Opéra de Lyon
''Faustus, The Last Night''
on BnF
''Faustus, the last night de Pascal Dusapin''
on Louvre.fr
''Faustus, the last night , Faust, dernière nuit opéra de Pascal Dusapin''
on Anaclase * , with a long German introduction, performance starts at 13:20
"''Faustus, the Last Night''"
in ''Operas in English: A Dictionary'' by

Margaret Ross Griffel Margaret Ross Griffel (born 9 July 1943) is an American musicologist and author. Biography Griffel graduated from High School of Music & Art, in Manhattan, New York in 1961. She earned a B.A. from Barnard College in 1965, M.A. in European and Am ...

, Scarecrow, 2012, pp. 168–169 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Faustus, the Last Night 2006 operas English-language operas Works based on the Faust legend Operas Operas based on plays Compositions by Pascal Dusapin Adaptations of works by Christopher Marlowe