Faust-Symphonie, Eine

Symphony by Franz Liszt, based on Goethe's drama, ‘in three character pictures’: 1. Faust; 2. Gretchen; 3. Mephistopheles; with a final chorus ‘Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis’. It was finished, without the chorus, on 19 October 1854, the chorus was added in 1857 and revised in 1880; the work was first performed at the Court Theatre, Weimar, Germany, on 5 September 1857, on the occasion of the unveiling of the Goethe-Schiller monument. The symphony is dedicated to Hector Berlioz. It was performed at Bayreuth, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, on the centenary of Liszt's death, 31 July 1986.