Its principal failing is the lack of one continuous thread
of interest. The opera is merely a succession of episodes, each nicely
calculated to throw fresh light upon the character of Faust, but by no
means mutually connected. The prologue opens in Heaven, where the
compact is made regarding the soul of Faust. The next scene shows the
Kermesse, changing to Faust's study, where Mephistopheles appears and
the contract is signed which binds him to Faust's service. We then pass
to the garden scene, in which Faust is shown as Margaret's lover. Then
come the Witches' Sabbath on the summit of the Brocken, and the prison
scene with the death of Margaret. After this we have two scenes from the
second part of Goethe's 'Faust,' the classical Sabbath, in which the
union of Helen and Faust symbolises the embrace of the Greek and
Germanic ideals, and the redemption of Faust with the discomfiture of
Mephistopheles, which ends the work. Although 'Mefistofele' is
unsatisfactory as a whole, the extraordinary beauty of several single
scenes ought to secure for it such immortality as the stage has to
offer. Boito is most happily inspired by Margaret, and the two scenes in
which she appears are masterpieces of beauty and pathos. In the garden
scene he has caught the ineffable simplicity of her character with
astonishing success. The contrast between her girlish innocence and the
voluptuous sentiment of Gounod's heroine cannot fail to strike the most
careless listener.
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