Faust Overture
The Faust Overture in D minor, WV 59 is an orchestral work by Richard Wagner. It was the year 1839/1840; The premiere took place under the baton of the composer in Dresden on 22 July 1844. Wagner revised its composition in 1843 and 1855; this revised version was premiered on 23 January 1855.
Formation
In the period between the end of 1839 and early 1840, Wagner decided, inspired by the " Roméo et Juliette " symphony by French composer Hector Berlioz, as well as a visit of samples to Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, to write a symphony about the Faust material. However, the composition did not go through the first set, which depicts Faust's solitude in his study, as well as sketches for the second movement " Gretchen " put out; from the completed first set eventually became the Faust Overture. Advice of Franz Liszt and his Faust Symphony composed in 1854 influenced a treatment of the Faust Overture by Wagner.
Set names
Very maintained - very moving
About the Music
Characteristic of the Faust Overture is their leitmotivischer character. Their slow introduction is characterized by double bass and tuba. Decorated in octaves and chromatic intermediate steps main theme (which would later influence the third set of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9) depicts Faust's anguish. The secondary theme in the woodwinds, in turn, contains an allusion to Gretchen. Only at the end, which is shown in the overture emotional tension dissolves in verhauchendem major.
Effect
Hans von Bülow rewrote the described by the Faust Overture theme as " suffering universal human content ." The premiere in Dresden by Wagner and a Weimar performance in 1852 by Franz Liszt ( both times in the first version ) found a positive response; as Tchaikovsky wrote, for example, in 1872: "The Faust Overture is the best composition Wagner and one of the most distinguished works of German symphonic literature ." Criticism, however, the piece came at the influential music critic Eduard Hanslick, and other critics of symphonic program music.