Chapter VII · "Mefistofele"
Reading edition
Music in the mediaeval Faust plays—Early operas on the subject— Meyerbeer and Goethe's poem—Composers of Faust music—Beethoven— Boito's reverence for Goethe's poem—His work as a poet—A man of mixed blood—"Mefistofele" a fiasco in Milan—The opera revised— Boito's early ambitions—Disconnected episodes—Philosophy of the opera—Its scope—Use of a typical phrase—The plot—Humors of the English translation—Music of the prologue—The Book of Job—Boito's metrical schemes—The poodle and the friar—A Polish dance in the Rhine country—Gluck and Vestris—The scene on the Brocken—The Classical Sabbath—Helen of Troy—A union of classic and romantic art—First performance of Boito's opera in America, (footnote).