NEWS

Matthias Baus
Matthias Baus

11.07.2022

DAVID STEFFENS as Mephistopheles in Schumann's „Scenes from Goethe's Faust“

There are a few but well-known scenes in Goethe’s Faust that do not get the slightest mentioning in Robert Schumann’s work: No sign of Gretchen at the spinning wheel, no gathering of the witches in Walpurgis Night and not even the smallest hint of Auerbach's Cellar anywhere in the composition. For anyone scanning Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's "Faust" in the quiet hope of finding a “Best of” of Goethe's magnum opus, the result will be both, disappointing and delightful. Why? Schumann's view on Goethe is extreme – in the omissions as well as in the settings. Schumann's oratorio about the incessantly striving character Faust, who yearns for finding out about "what holds the world together in its innermost", is a radical attempt to bring that innermost side to the surface. In essence what we get is such: ephemeral music as an allegory, the insufficient fragment as an event and the indescribable of the story as deed.

As a member of Stuttgart's opera ensemble, David Steffens will take over the role of Mephistopheles in Schumann's oratorio "Scenes from Goethe's Faust" in three concert performances which will conclude the current season. In addition, the German bass can also be heard as King Heinrich in a concert performance of Wagner's Lohengrin at the Forum am Schlosspark on 17 July.

 

Cast

Jarrett Ott, Faust
Esther Dierkes, Gretchen
David Steffens, Mephistopheles
Kai Kluge, Ariel
Carina Schmieger | Kyriaki Sirlantzi, soprano
Natalia Skrycka, mezzo-soprano
Dalila Djenić, alto
Jasper Leever, bass

André de Ridder, conductor
Manuel Pujol, Chor
Bernhard Moncado, Kinderchor

Kinderchor der Oper Stuttgart
Mitglieder des Staatsopernchores
Staatsorchester Stuttgart

ARTISTS