Arrigo Boito (1842–1918)

The only Italian opera in my collection, Boito's take on the Faust legend was soundly disliked by its audiences when it was premiered because it sounded too German. Certainly it tends more towards the Wagnerian "flow of consciousness" model than the formulaic Italian production with set piece arias, trios, duets and so on. The scale of the work is also Wagnerian, with a prologue that opens in heaven - almost, but not quite, "Enter God, stage left". The Witches' Sabbath is also rather fine. Boito was sometime librettist to Verdi, but his attempts at upping his game to producing a whole opera seem to have met with little success.

For a long time, this 1959 recording with Cesare Siepi singing the title role and including Renata Tebaldi as Margherita, with the Academy of St. Cecila in Rome conducted by Tullio Serafino was the only game in town. Even now, there are comparatively few recordings of this opera in the catalogue.

The cover art of these 1993 Decca CDs appears to depict the character of Mefistofele as played by Emil Jannings in a 1926 production of Faust (whether an opera or the play is not recorded) produced by F.W. Murnau, of all people! Now that would be worth seeing!… (mais)