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The Real History of Opera 4/5 Gounod's Faust
Tuesday 1 November 2005 13:30-14:00 (Radio 4 FM)
Repeated: Saturday 5 November 2005 15:30-16:00 (Radio 4 FM)
Huw Edwards uncovers the history and social context behind operas.
Gounod's Faust is the most enduring adaptation for the theatre of many works which take as their source Goethe's great masterpiece.
One of the most popular and most performed operas in the world for more than a hundred years, it's nevertheless extremely problematic - full of wonderful melody and lavish spectacle, but Gounod is accused by some of turning Goethe's philosophically and intellectually challenging play into nothing more than a sugary dollop of Victorian sentimentality.
Huw Edwards investigates the dumbing down, or not, of the famous story.
