As your alte Jungfer is scurrying about packing her trunks and hatboxes in preparation for her annual pilgrimage to the Festspielhaus, this week we offer you a visit to the “Faustspielhaus” (a term coined by a critic of the Met in the 1890s.) Piotr Beczala, Soile Isokoski and Kwangchul Youn star in this 2009 performance from the Wiener Staatsoper, idiomatically conducted by Bertrand de Billy.

Faust fell from grace after World War II and was long considered too, too twee. But with an abundance of contemporary tenors suited to the title role—Beczala, Roberto Alagna, Joseph Calleja and Jonas Kaufmann among them—could it be staging a comeback?

Charles Gounod: Faust

Wiener Staatsoper
Bertrand de Billy, conductor
16 June 2009

Faust – Piotr Beczala
Maurguerite – Soile Isokoski
Méphistophélès – Kwangchul Youn
Valentin – Boaz Daniel
Siébel – Roana Constantinescu
Marthe – Zoryana Kushpler
Wagner – Hans Peter Kammerer