sir ADriAN BOULT conductorDiETriCH FisCHEr-DiEsKAUriCHArD LEWisiAN WALLACEHEATHEr HArPErJOHN CAMErONLONDON PHiLHArMONiC OrCHEsTrA and CHOir

BUSONIDOKTOr FAUsT

BUSONIDOKTOR FAUST

An introduction to this recording by broadcaster John Amis

Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer and virtuoso pianist who wrote most extensively for his own instrument. A contemporary of Puccini (they both died in 1924), Busoni taught and performed internationally, was a friend of Sibelius, and an acquaintance of Schoenberg. He began work on his best known opera Doktor Faust in 1916 but died before finishing it. The opera was completed by his pupil, Philipp Jarnach (1892–1982), who had to work in haste so that the world première could take place in 1925 in Dresden. Jarnach was reluctant to take on the task but was put under pressure to do so by relatives and friends of Busoni.

Had Busoni completed the opera he would no doubt have revised and edited it, probably making some cuts in the long, occasionally sprawling score. He had worked on his masterpiece for many years, incorporating parts of other works, notably the Sonatina Seconda. It is not surprising then that when this concert performance was mooted, Sir Adrian Boult asked baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau for his advice as to what of the music might be excised, yet still, of course, leaving the essential, major parts intact.

Both as pianist and as composer, Busoni expected much from his listeners. The critic Paul Bekker once wrote of Busoni: ‘He flew, sometimes leaving behind those who could only walk or ride.’ There was a certain aloofness in his nature; he was an intellectual and an artistic aristocrat. The listener has to co-operate to benefit from Busoni: the going is easier in some places (e.g. the magical Symphonic Intermezzo, track 10) than others but he repays the listener’s effort enormously.

If new to this work do not, first of all, expect any words or thoughts of Goethe. Busoni was not the artist to take the obvious course. Equally there is no reference to the Damnation of Faust by Berlioz (a composer that Busoni admired), partly because he too was an artist who avoided the obvious. Busoni wrote his own libretto, basing it on French medieval puppet plays and legends and the sentimental style of Gounod’s Faust would have been anathema to the Italian composer.

Doktor Faust is one of the experimental operatic masterpieces of the twentieth-century, to be mentioned in the same breath as Schoenberg’s Erwartung, Berg’s Wozzek and

Pelléas et Mélisande by Debussy. Busoni was to the turn of the new century almost what Liszt had been to the old one: the most famous pianist of his day and a composer whose works often looked forward to the future. Whereas Liszt basked in fame and adulation, Busoni came to hate his role of virtuoso, and suffered a deep sense of frustration where his composing was concerned. But in Doktor Faust, Busoni’s genius came to fruition and he put the whole of his complicated self into its composition. This is probably one reason why the opera is so convincing and compelling. For Busoni saw himself as Faust. And sometimes even as Mephistopheles, who is the dark side of Faust.

Busoni wrote his own libretto and his opera takes Faust through a musical series of fascinating adventures, spiritual and physical. The music is laid out into five principal scenes: the first two are described as prologues; the latter three, part of the play proper.

The first prologue takes place at Wittenberg. Faust is in his study anxiously awaiting the results of some alchemical experiments that are bubbling away on the hearth. His assistant, Wagner, enters to tell him that three students wish to see him. At first he will not see them, but he gives way when he hears that they have a book for him: Clavis Astartis Magica. Faust breaks out into an excited soliloquy; this is the book that will give him all the magic power that he seeks. The students enter. They are from Krakow, it seems, and on hearing the name of the town where he spent his own youth, Faust deals kindly with them. They leave giving not only the book, but a key and a deed of possession before vanishing from the scene. Wagner returns to Faust’s study but has not been able physically to see the students. “Ahh,” says Faust, “...now I know who they were.” And the torts and vessels on the hearth begin to boil and their steam dissolves the scene.

SYNOPSIS

In the second of the prologues we see Faust again in his study. It is now midnight, and Faust has drawn a magic circle and called on Lucifer to send him his servant. Five devils have been conjured up but dismissed with contempt by Faust. Faust has carelessly stepped outside the magic circle, and this is the point at which our music begins. The sixth devil, Mephistopheles, calls Faust with a high voice and Faust makes him appear in tangible shape. Because Faust stepped outside of the circle, Mephistopheles becomes not his servant, but his Master. On being asked what he wills, Faust replies “For every desire to be gratified. To embrace the world, to have genius, its pain, its happiness, utter freedom.” But the price is eternal servitude after life and though Faust is too proud to serve, the devil is not to be dismissed. “Listen, Faust”, he says. “Who is that at the door? Your creditors, the brother of the girl you have deceived, the priests who suspect, rightly, that you are fit to be burnt at the stake?” The knocking at the door is persistent. “Kill them”, says Faust. And in doing so, he makes his pact with the devil.

Taken from John Amis’ introduction to the 1959 BBC broadcast of this performance

The first scene of the play proper takes place at the wedding festivities of the Duke and Duchess of Parma. The Master of Ceremonies proposes that the well-known Doctor Faust shall amuse the company with his magic. We begin our excerpt with Faust asking the Duchess what she would like to see. “I would like to see King Solomon,” she says, and straight away he appears playing the harp with the Queen of Sheba by his side. The next dumb show to appear is Samson and Delilah and after that, Salome and St. John the Baptist. Each time the figures are represented by Faust and the Duchess, but on the last occasion the Duke is there too, resembling St. John’s executioner.

“St. John must not die!” says the Duchess, demonstrating to Faust that she loves him. The dumb show is called off and the Duke invites Faust to the wedding feast but Mephistopheles warns him that the food is poisoned and they leave the scene. The Duchess comes back, calling to Faust and declaring her love, and she goes out still singing her nocturnal song. The Duke and his Chaplain enter. The Chaplain breaks the news that the Duchess and Faust have eloped, flying up into the sky together on

a pair of flaming white chargers. The Chaplain says, “Better to hush the thing up and marry another.” “Heaven speaks through you,” says the Duke. And the Chaplain raises his cloven hoof in benediction.

Now follows the Sarabande for the orchestra alone. Busoni calls it a Symphonic Intermezzo. Maybe it represents the fleeting happiness of Faust and the Duchess, but certainly it is a moment of repose in the opera, and one of Busoni’s most serene and beautiful pieces.

Faust is again at Wittenberg with his students at the tavern, discussing philosophy. The students are inclined to brawl. Faust tries to calm them but it’s no good. The students are quarrelling again; Protestants against the Catholics in a choral shindig worthy of Berlioz himself.

The final scene of Doktor Faust shows a street under snow in Wittenberg. The hour of ten o’clock is called by what looks like the nightwatchman, but sounds suspiciously like Mephistopheles. There are two hours to go; for Faust’s time on earth is nearly up. But here come the students congratulating Wagner on

As a lecturer, critic, broadcaster, administrator and author John Amis has had a distinctive career, his early days in the mid 1940s being spent in the Editorial Department of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He is best remembered for his 18 years on the BBC radio programme My Music.

his inaugural speech, for he has taken Faust’s place as rector of the university. The students sing a serenade but are put to flight by the nightwatchman.

Faust enters alone, looking up at the house that was once his. A beggar sits on a doorstep with a child at her breast and voices in the church are heard singing. Faust turns to the beggar and sees that it is the Duchess of Parma. She hands the child to him and vanishes, but the child is dead.

Desperately, Faust kneels by the crucifix of the church door but he cannot pray as the words will not come. The nightwatchman is hovering

about, but Faust pulls himself together for his last deed, a supreme effort of the will. With a magic circle once more Faust transfers to the dead child his own will so that the child may accomplish what he has failed to do on earth. Faust then dies as the nightwatchman calls midnight. But Faust’s effort of will has succeeded, and a youth arises from the magic circle holding a symbolic green branch in his hand. The nightwatchman holds his lantern over Faust’s body.

“Has this man had an accident?” he asks. And Mephistopheles hauls the body off with him as the curtain falls.

John Amis 2011

CHARACTERS AND SOLOISTS By John Amis

HEATHEr HArPEr Duchess of Parma

Heather Harper was a wonderful artist, a first-class soprano, a great musician. She excelled alike in opera, oratorio and concert work. Although not always recognised world-wide as the great singer she was, she was much appreciated by Benjamin Britten for performances as Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes). In what was a long and illustrious career, in the early 1970s she had something like a new lease of musical life – the sparkle in her eyes was unmistakable as was the increased warmth and brilliance in her singing.

riCHArD LEWis Mephistopheles

Richard Lewis was an all-rounder, excelling on stage and in concert with his wide-ranging voice that could be so expressive and mellifluous. He could even achieve a top C – was there ever such an entry for an operatic character as that note that Busoni gave to Mephistopheles? In the early stages of his career, Lewis made his name as the first tenor who could take on the music that Britten composed with the intent for Peter Pears to sing.

DiETriCH FisCHEr-DiEsKAU Faust

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau had several great attributes that many a performer would be envious of: he had a voice that was one in a thousand, a rare musicianship, a gift for languages, a dramatic sense and a discerning questing intelligence. At the time of this performance he was a complete artist.

JOHN CAMErON Duke of Parma

John Cameron brought great warmth and impeccable power to any and every song, oratorio or operatic part that he sang; his artis in full flower on this recording.

iAN WALLACE Wagner

Ian Wallace was equally renowned for his comedy, straight drama and opera. He possessed one of the most purely beautiful bass-baritone voices of his day. Learning was arduous for him as he didn’t read music, but learning his music the hard way did not at all diminish his total absorption in anything he performed, be it in Rossini or Donizetti at the Cambridge Theatre in London or at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in Sussex.

Sir Adrian Boult’s career occasionally wavered; he was always a consummate professional but sometimes it seemed as if he was a mite bored with the vast repertoire he was given in his long stint with the BBC, where he took on everything that was put on his desk. Boult was of the school who believed in letting the music speak for itself without extravagant gestures from the man on the podium. This did not work out right every time; but in Elgar, Vaughan Williams and, surprisingly, Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, Wagner, and Busoni, it did. He was not always given the credit due to him. Critics saw this very British-looking gentleman, with no hair on his head but a copious amount of it between his nose and his mouth, possibly as a distraction instead of

sir ADriAN BOULT conductor

listening to the emotions he released from the podium. But when he was asked to conduct Doktor Faust he rose to the occasion; Busoni doesn’t blaze, explode or indulge in passionate climaxes but the emotions are there even if they are not thrust in your face.

Sir Adrian was just right for Doktor Faust. A world-beating cast was assembled, likewise a first-class chorus and orchestra. The music is allowed to speak eloquently and convincingly. Fischer-Dieskau was in his element and I think that Busoni might have turned in his grave to better hear what might have been the Doctor Faust of his dreams.

Sir Adrian Boult

John Amis 2011

The London Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1947 as the chorus for the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It is widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest choirs and consistently meets with critical acclaim. Performing regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Choir also works with many other orchestras throughout the United Kingdom and makes annual appearances at the BBC Proms. It has performed under some of the world’s most eminent conductors – among them Pierre Boulez, Sir Mark Elder, Sir John Eliot Gardiner,

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The London Philharmonic Orchestra is known as one of the world’s great orchestras with a reputation secured by its performances in the concert hall and opera house, its many award-winning recordings, its trail-blazing international tours and its pioneering education work. Distinguished conductors who have held positions with the Orchestra since its foundation in 1932 by Sir Thomas Beecham include Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt, Franz Welser-Möst and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed the Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor in March 2003 and became Principal Conductor in September 2007. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since 1992 and there it presents its main series of concerts between September and May

each year. In summer, the Orchestra moves to Sussex where it has been Resident at Glyndebourne Festival Opera for over 40 years. The Orchestra also performs at venues around the UK and has made numerous tours to America, Europe and Japan, and visited India, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Australia, South Africa and Abu Dhabi.

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Sir Adrian Boult at a recording session with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Walthamstow Assembly Hall, 1953

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FErrUCCiO BUsONi (1866–1924)

74:26 Doktor Faust

01 03:15 Prologue I: Euerer Magnifizenz Verzeihung (Wagner)02 02:27 Also lasst die Studenten ein (Faust)03 05:05 Wer seid Ihr? (Faust)04 05:23 Prologue II: Ein einzelner blieb (Faust)05 08:39 Willst Du mir dienen? (Faust)06 06:19 Scene I: Was wünscht die schöne Herrin zu erschauen? (Faust)07 02:29 Endet das Spiel! (Duke of Parma)08 06:05 Er ruft mich (Duchess of Parma)09 02:28 Was Wichtges, sagt Ihr? (Duke of Parma)10 07:16 Symphonic Intermezzo11 05:42 Scene II: So lang man Jugend hat (Chorus)12 02:14 Final Scene: Ihr Männer und Frauen, lasst euch sagen (Nightwatchman)13 03:29 Die Antrittsrede Euerer Magnifizenz (A Student)14 03:59 Das Haus ist mir bekannt (Faust)15 03:26 Meine bösen Geister (Faust)16 06:10 Blut meines Blutes (Faust)

sir ADriAN BOULT conductor DiETriCH FisCHEr-DiEsKAU baritone: Faust riCHArD LEWis tenor: Mephistopheles iAN WALLACE bass baritone: Wagner HEATHEr HArPEr soprano: Duchess of Parma JOHN CAMErON bass: Duke of Parma LONDON PHiLHArMONiC OrCHEsTrA and CHOir AMBrOsiAN siNGErs CHOrUs FrOM THE rOyAL ACADEMy OF MUsiC Henry Datyner leader

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s rOyAL FEsTiVAL HALL, London