i like this dramatization..the thought that faust is granted one last moment of peace, affection, & shelter when Mefis. wraps his arm around him before their descent into eternal horror and agony is quite terrifying...
Exceptional Gabriela Beňačková!!! She knows that when singing "Anges purs etc." Marguerite already knows she is saved!!! Nearly all other singers take this part like a vocal combat.
@@MrTrackman100 It is a moment just before her death and there is no more combat... It should be distinguishable in the singing too. At least, it is my personal opinion.... But it is also a very difficult singing as it is very high. There are not many sopranos who are (were) able to sing it without using a force.
The headless corpse kinda kills the impact of the moment, doesn't it? How much more devastating would it would have been to let the person singing Marguerite emerge from that coffin (head intact) , perhaps receive a kiss from Mephisto before watching him descend to hell with Faust. Now that would have made chills run down my spine....
I don't understand the director's version of the ending. Marguerite is beheaded by the guillotine, but with the promise of salvation. Then we suddenly see Faust looking old again (why?), apparently securing her coffin from graverobbers, then the coffin opens and out comes a headless Marguerite pointing an accusatory finger at him (not consistent with her salvation), and then Mephistopheles shows up and drags him to hell a la Don Giovanni and the stone guest. OK, that latter part looks like a good idea (you reap what you sow), but it is not in Gounod's opera, nor in Goethe's original drama, where he is saved at the end of Book II and even sees Marguerite as among those welcoming him to Heaven. And the devil could have dragged him even earlier, before Faustus got her coffin. At any rate, the singing of Francisco Araiza and Gabriela Beňačková is first rate. Mephistopheles is not Ruggero Raimondi's best role, but he has his usual impressive presence.
After reading your comment, I have concluded that Faust had never truly been in love with Marguerite. He was obsessed with her. Hence, an elderly Faust [apparently securing her coffin from graverobbers…]. Perhaps he was planning on using her body as an experiment, to reverse his old age, and restore her life. Or he was trying to make some sort of contract with Mephistopheles/the Devil to use his knowledge and their unholy powers to restore Marguerite’s beauty and youth to live with him. Either way, the actions of Faust are monstrously cruel; not the least to poor Marguerite, but to those who genuinely loved her. Hiring dirty, low-life, graverobbers to spirit her from a burial place where her loved ones can see her? The audience can see why people of old had quite a problem with the practice of medicine and science! [Alchemy.] Now, here’s how we can make this dramatization more interesting: when an old Faust opens the coffin, he staggers backwards. --Not a headless Marguerite, but a beautiful woman emanating Heaven’s light. Rising out of the coffin, the old man sees that Marguerite holds a small baby in her arms. The child that was created during the night when Marguerite had joined herself with Faust. When the old man tries to reach out to them, the shrouded graverobbers hold him back, revealing themselves as Heaven’s angels. In doing so, the stagehands could reverse the dirty graverobbers’ cloaks to be golden angelic wings to help guide Marguerite and the child to [the promise of salvation]. As old Faust witnesses Marguerite and the child’s assent into Heaven, Mephistopheles (by swaddling Faust in his black cloak, interestingly) gifts Faust a small glimpse of sympathy, comfort, and mercy as they descend to Hell’s promise of damnation. Maybe: as old Faust sees Marguerite and the child’s assent into Heaven, but before Mephistopheles swaddles Faust in his black cloak, Marguerite could give the old man a parting gaze that says (I don’t know if the love I once held for you will be enough to save you, but I will do what I can to help you.) Is this ending better? Does it clarify [director’s vision] without completely trashing the original/opera?
It must be Christian because it is said in the libretto ( "Jesuschrist is risen", for example) and it is not Gounod's idea, but Michel Carré's et Jules Barbier's one, the playwrights, upon Goethe's masterpiece.
I can only imagine the look on Henry the Eighth if this happened to him at his death. Seriously though, my second favourite opera along with “Don Giovanni.”
@upasaka3091 This IS a holy scene of damnation and punishment... this is a very Christian idea and a very acceptable directorial interpretation of the finale... even quite conservative by today's standards... while the chorus sings of her salvation it is quite clear that Faust has lost his soul... it is a coin with two sides
Benakova toujours exceptionnelle : timbre, dicton, musicalité. Araiza routinier et d'artegna (???) franchement pas bon. Je le répète ici : benakova en live c'était juste fabuleux.
A long time ago, I saw an old movie which included this scene. A mob boss and his hit man were sitting in a box in a theater watching this opera. Their plan was that the hit man would murder the singer. But the boss was so entranced by her singing that, when the hit man got up to do the deed, the boss stopped him. Does anyone know which movie this is?
@@carobianca7504 It's at 1:17:28. Thanks for that link. The singing is beautiful, and I really enjoyed it. But it's not what I remember, though it is remarkably similar. I think my film was older, might even have been in black and white. And I don't think any shots were fired. I don't think it was a musical, it just happened to have this scene in it. Thanks again for taking the trouble and introducing me to something so good and new to me.
La cantatrice est très bonne ,avec des aigus percutants et très bien placés ,les contre Ut de la scène finale sont émis avec panache .La mise en scène est grotesque et affreuse .Et précisons que la guillotine n'existait pas à l'époque où l'histoire de Faust est censée se dérouler .Ah l'inculture des metteurs en scène n'est plus à démontrer .Ils devraient plutôt travailler dans le show biz ,car ils seraient dans leur élément .
