Faust: French–English Side-by-Side Libretto With Translation

I’m glad to add Charles Gounod’s Faust to the growing collection on LibrettoArchive.

A side-by-side French–English version of the libretto is now available, making it possible to follow the original French together with the English translation. A German text is also available on the website and can be viewed separately or alongside the other languages.

A new French–English paperback has also been published as part of DM’s Opera Series. A PDF preview is available on LibrettoArchive, so you can see the layout and read part of the libretto before ordering.

Faust is one of my favorite operas, and Goethe is one of my favorite writers. I have read all of Goethe, so this story has always been especially interesting to me. Faust was also a favorite opera of Mikhail Bulgakov, another of my favorite writers, and Goethe’s Faust has an important connection with The Master and Margarita.

What I especially love about Gounod’s Faust is that it seems to have everything: drama and tragedy, beautiful lyrical music, comedy, the famous waltz, large choruses, supernatural scenes, and the Walpurgis Night ballet. One of my favorite moments is Marguerite’s Ballad of the King of Thule, “Il était un roi de Thulé.” It is a simple, almost old-fashioned song, but it creates a very different atmosphere just before the famous Jewel Song.

While preparing the texts, I also spent some time comparing different versions of the libretto. Faust was revised several times after its 1859 premiere, and the Walpurgis Night scene is particularly interesting. The large seven-part ballet was added for the Paris Opéra version and appears differently in various libretti and recordings.

The updated libretto, side-by-side translation, paperback information, and PDF preview are now available on LibrettoArchive.