La Damnation de Faust Is Feb. 8, 2020, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: La Damnation de Faust is the Feb. 8, 2020, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast, airing as 10th in the season’s 23 radio matinees.

English conductor Edward Gardner, who becomes London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor in the 2021-2022 season, revisits Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at the Metropolitan Opera January-February 2020, six and one-half months after conducting the concert version in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall: Edward Gardner @EdwardGardnerOfficial, via Facebook June 5, 2019

Hector Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust is the Feb. 8, 2020, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast, airing at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and numbering as the 10th of 23 scheduled Saturday radio matinees during the 2019-2020 Met Opera season.

Nineteenth-century French Romantic composer Louis-Hector Berlioz (Dec. 11, 1803-March 8, 1869) set the musical score for his dramatic legend (légende dramatique) to a French libretto co-written with French librettist Almire Philbert Gandonnière (Aug. 3, 1813-Oct. 25, 1863). The libretto’s literary source was Gérard de Nerval’s French translation of Faust: Eine Tragödie (Faust: A Tragedy), also known as Faust, Part One, by German naturalist and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Aug. 28, 1749-March 22, 1832). Gérard de Nerval was the pen name of French poet, translator and writer Gérard Labrunie (May 22, 1808-Jan. 26, 1855).

Goethe’s Faust: Eine Tragödie was first published in 1808. Labrunie completed his prose translation in 1828.

La Damnation de Faust, scored for soloists, choruses and orchestra, premiered Dec. 6, 1846, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, France. Berlioz’s concert-styled opera was performed in the second of three opera houses, all named Salle Favart, built on the same location, Place BoÏeldieu, in the 2nd arrondissment (IIe arrondissement) for the opera company.

La Damnation de Faust received its Metropolitan Opera premiere on Feb. 2, 1896. Berlioz’s opera, which was presented as a concert, received three performances in the 1895-1896 season.

The Metropolitan Opera presented La Damnation de Faust as a new production for the opera house’s United States stage premiere on Dec. 7, 1906. La Damnation de Faust received six performances in the 1906-1907 season. The season’s first five performances were offered in the operatic version. The season’s sixth performance was presented Feb. 3, 1907, in the concert version for the Tenth Grand Sunday Night Concert, according to MetOpera Database, the Metropolitan Opera’s online archives.

Nine decades passed between the Metropolitan Opera’s United States stage premiere and the opera house’s next presentation of La Damnation de Faust. In the 1996-1997 Met Opera season, Berlioz’s Faust was performed Nov. 10, 1996, and June 13, 1997, in the concert version, under the conductorship of the opera house’s second music director, James Levine.

On Nov. 7, 2008, the Metropolitan Opera debuted a new production of La Damnation de Faust, directed by Robert Lepage. The Canadian film and stage director’s new staging received eight performances in the 2008-2009 season.

A revival was offered in the autumn of the following season. The 2009-2010 season featured seven performances of La Damnation de Faust, with closing night taking place Nov. 17, 2009.

The 2019-2020 Met Opera season’s performances of La Damnation de Faust mark the first presentation of Berlioz’s Faustian opera at the opera house in more than a decade (specifically: 10 years, 2 months, 8 days, excluding the end date). The Metropolitan Opera website’s page on the 2019-2020 season’s La Damnation de Faust notes that the “more usual concert version” is presented because of the revived stage production’s “the unanticipated technical demands.”

In the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, four concert performances are offered. The first performance took place Saturday, Jan. 25, at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). The month’s second performance was presented Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 8 p.m.

The season’s last two performances of La Damnation de Faust are scheduled for February. The performance Saturday, Feb. 1, begins at 8 p.m. The concert version closes Saturday, Feb. 8, as the 2019-2020 Met Opera season’s 10th Saturday matinee broadcast.

Edward Gardner conducts all four performances of La Damnation de Faust. The English conductor made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the opera house’s 960th performance of Carmen by 19th-century French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Elīna Garanča appears as Marguerite, whom Faust saves. The Latvian operatic mezzo-soprano made her Metropolitan Opera debut Jan. 12, 2008, as Rosina in the opera house’s 565th performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868).

Bryan Hymel appears in the title role as world-weary Faust for January’s two performances (Saturday, Jan. 25; Wednesday, Jan. 29). The American tenor made his Metropolitan Opera debut Dec. 26, 2012, as Aeneas in the opera house’s 41st performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens.

Michael Spyres claims the title role for February’s two performances (Saturday, Feb. 1; Saturday matinee broadcast, Feb. 8). The American operatic tenor’s performance Saturday, Feb. 1, marks his Metropolitan Opera debut.

Ildar Abdrazakov appears as Méphistophélès, who succeeds in claiming Faust's soul. In the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Ildar Abdrazakov also appears as Banquo in Macbeth by 19th-century Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). The Russian bass-baritone made his Metropolitan Opera debut March 1, 2004, as Masetto in the opera house’s 476th performance of Don Giovanni by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791).

The takeaway for La Damnation de Faust as the Feb. 8, 2020, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that Hector Berlioz’s dramatic legend, presented in its concert version, airs at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and numbers as the 10th of 23 Saturday matinees broadcast weekly through Saturday, May 9, 2020.

In the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Russian bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov explores the concert version of La Damnation de Faust’s Méphistophélès, a role that he performed in the operatic version (shown here) in the 2009-2010 Met Opera season: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Oct. 31, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

English conductor Edward Gardner, who becomes London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor in the 2021-2022 season, revisits Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at the Metropolitan Opera January-February 2020, six and one-half months after conducting the concert version in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall: Edward Gardner @EdwardGardnerOfficial, via Facebook June 5, 2019, @ https://www.facebook.com/EdwardGardnerOfficial/posts/345810306128454

In the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Russian bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov explores the concert version of La Damnation de Faust’s Méphistophélès, a role that he performed in the operatic version (shown here) in the 2009-2010 Met Opera season: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Oct. 31, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10161201442635533/

For further information:

“Debut: Bryan Hymel.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 354746 Les Troyens {41} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/26/2012.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=354746

“Debut: Elina Garanca, José Manuel Zapata, John Moore.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352298 Il Barbiere di Siviglia {565} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/12/08.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352298

“Debuts: Edward Gardner, Malcolm MacKenzie.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353617 Carmen {960} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/04/2010.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353617

"Debuts: Ildar Abdrazakov . . ." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 350919 New Production Don Giovanni {476} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/01/2004.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=350919

Edward Gardner @EdwardGardnerOfficial. “Please join me on the 26 June in Birmingham's Symphony Hall for The Damnation of Faust! https://bit.ly/2HW21us City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.” Facebook. June 5, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/EdwardGardnerOfficial/posts/345810306128454

“In Concert: La Damnation de Faust.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 38740 In Concert Tenth Grand Sunday Night Concert La Damnation de Faust {9} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/3/1907.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=38740

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Met Opera Season Premiere of Mefistofele Is Thursday, Nov. 8.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Oct. 29, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/2018-2019-met-opera-season-premiere-of_29.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Charles Gounod, Whose Faust Opened Met Opera, Was Born June 17, 1818.” Earth and Space News. Monday, June 17, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/06/charles-gounod-whose-faust-opened-met.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Mefistofele Is First 2018-2019 Saturday Matinee Broadcast Dec. 1.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Nov. 26, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/mefistofele-is-first-2018-2019-saturday.html

Met Opera Chorus @MetOperaChorus. “Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera.” Facebook. Dec. 4, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOperaChorus/photos/a.579001435509083/1890038484405365/

The Metropolitan Opera ‏@MetOpera. “Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust.” Facebook. Oct. 31, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10161201442635533/

“New Production: La Damnation de Faust.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352680 New Production La Damnation de Faust {12} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/07/2008.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352680

“New Production / United States Stage Premiere: La Damnation de Faust.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 38100 New Production / United States Stage Premiere La Damnation de Faust {4} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/7/1906.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=38100