Charles Gounod

Faust, CG 4: Act III

CHARLES GOUNOD (1818-1893) was a prolific French composer in the mid 1800' s, but he was not well recognized by his peers or the public until his opera Faust was first performed in Paris in 1859. The opera remains today as one of the most dramatic and popular in the repertoire. The libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on the two-part play by Goethe, tells the story of the aging philosopher in search of lost youth. Selling his soul to the devil, he is transformed into a young man, but when he falls in love with the virtuous Marguerite, her own soul hangs in the balance. In Act 3, after Faust has instructed Mephistopheles to leave a box of beautiful jewelry and a hand mirror on Marguerite's doorstep, Marguerite sings a melancholy ballad about the King of Thule ("Il était un roi de Thulé"), followed by the well-known aria known as the Jewel Song ("Oh dieu! Que de bijoux ... Ah! je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir") as she admires how the jewelry enhances her beauty. Instrumentation: 2.2.2.2: 4.2.0.0: Timp.Perc(2-3): Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set): Solo Sop. Reprint edition.