Damnation de Faust, La

Dramatic legend by HECTOR BERLIOZ, 1846, based on part 1 of Goethe's Faust. Berlioz's work was first performed in Paris.

Berlioz made many changes to the story to suit his musical adaptation. He added a sequence placed in Hungary, which includes the celebrated Rakoczy March, which is associated with Hungarian nationalism. He also introduced an effective choral pandemonium in which minor devils converse in a nonsense language.

Berlioz also changed the story so that the heroine, Gretchen, goes to heaven, but Faust is sent straight to hell. The reinterpretation of Goethe (found also in CHARLES GOUNOD'S opera) is considered blasphemous by certain German cultural patriots. While the Berlioz work is an oratorio, there have been staged performances.