Schumann: Faust-Szenen

How does one tackle Goethe's masterpiece "Faust" musically, where the stage play alone is a challenge? Robert Schumann cut his teeth on the material. His solution: he chose 13 fragmentary scenes and put them into an associative sequence.

Mystical, enigmatic, highly philosophical: Goethe's "Faust" has inspired countless composers. Alongside Berlioz, Liszt and Gounod, Robert Schumann also dared to tackle the material, which he had known since his youth. It took the composer a full ten years to complete his literary oratorio. Self-doubting as he was, he declared, "You have to be Goethe to understand Goethe." Schumann transferred his own moral sufferings into the figure of Faust. The artist's struggle for knowledge and redemption becomes palpable.