nd that it was himself who had
written Fuite en Egypte. He had made everybody appear as absurd as
possible, and there is no sign that he ever did that sort of thing for
the pure love of a joke. He was malicious, born so, lived so, and died
so. However great his music, he was unworthy of it.

DAMNATION OF FAUST

CHARACTERS OF THE OPERA

Faust.
Mephistopheles.
Brander.
Marguerite.
Sylphs, students, soldiers, angels.

Composer: Hector Berlioz.

ACT I

One lovely morning, in a Hungarian meadow, a scholar went to walk
before he should begin his day's task of study and of teaching. He was
an old man, who had thought of little in life, so far as his
associates knew, besides his books; but secretly he had longed for
the bright joys of the world most ardently.

While he lingered in the meadow, possessed with its morning
brightness, and its summer dress he heard some person singing not far
away:

[Music:

The shepherd donned his best array,
Wreath and jacket and ribbons gay,
Oh, but he, but he was smart to see,
The circle closed round the linden tree,
All danced and sprang,
All danced and sprang, all danced and sprang;
like madmen danced away.
Hurrah, hurrah, huzza
Tra la, la, la, la.]

At first a single voice was singing, but soon the song was taken up by
a joyous chorus, and Faust, the scholar, stopped to listen.

Alas! It spoke of that gaiety he had so longed to enjoy. A group of
peasants were out for a holiday, and their sport was beginning early.
While he meditated on all that he had lost, the merrymakers drew near,
and he watched them dance, listened to them laugh and sing, and became
more and more heartsick. It was the youth of the revellers that
entered into his heart. There was he, so old, and nearly done with
life; done with its possibilities for joy and with its hardships!

Then, in the very midst of these thoughts the sound of martial music
was heard. Faust shaded his eyes with his trembling old hand:

"Ha! A splendour of weapons is brightly gleaming afar: the sons of the
Danube apparelled for war! They gallop so proudly along: how sparkle
their eyes, how flash their shields. All hearts are thrilled, they
chant their battle's story! While my heart is cold, all unmoved by
glory." He sang this in recitative, while the music drew nearer and
nearer, and as the army passed by, it marched to one of the famous
compositions of history:

[Music]

T