Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust: No. 2, “Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke” (First Mephisto Waltz)

Program notes

About the Work

The First Mephisto Waltz originated as part of Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust, written around 1860. The literary source is not Goethe’s Faust but the darker, more despairing verse drama by the Austrian poet Nikolaus Lenau, published in 1836.

Liszt’s program note, drawn directly from Lenau, describes the scene: A wedding feast is in progress at a village inn. Mephistopheles and Faust happen by, and the devil persuades Faust to enter. Mephistopheles snatches a violin from a lethargic fiddler and draws from it “indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains.” The villagers are whipped into an orgiastic frenzy. Faust seizes a beautiful peasant girl; they waltz out of the room, out of the inn, away into the forest. The violin fades into the distance. A nightingale sings.

What to listen for tonight:

• The devil’s fiddle: The work opens with stacked fifths that suggest a fiddle being tuned: Mephistopheles preparing his instrument. Then the sinister dance begins, diabolically seductive rather than overtly threatening.

• The waltz: Listen for the obsessive waltz rhythm that drives the villagers (and the music) into ever-greater abandon. The tempo and intensity build relentlessly.

• The love scene: Yearning cello cantilenas represent Faust falling under the spell of the village beauty. The music becomes suddenly tender and seductive.

• The nightingale: As the couple slip away into the forest, flutes take up the nightingale’s song. The stars are still shining; innocence persists despite the evening’s devilry.

• The return: The dance music gradually resumes, building to a final virtuosic Presto.