Bach’s Faust

After the »Ring of Cantatas« (2018) and »Bach’s Messiah« (2021), now we have »Bach’s Faust«. Are you now enrolling even literary giants into your projects?

I am indeed, but this time it’s not just the title. When I realised that in 2025 Auerbach’s Cellar would be celebrating its 500th anniversary, I had the crazy idea of ›marrying‹ Goethe’s »Faust« with Bach’s music. I mean, I imagined what would have happened if Bach had been commissioned to accompany and comment on the first part of the tragedy every now and then with his own works. In other words, to transform it into a kind of singspiel.

And does it work?

Amazingly well! Because Goethe included a lot of music in the plot – the chorale »Christ ist erstanden« (»Christ is risen«) in the poisoned cup scene, or »Dies irae«, when Gretchen meets the evil spirit in the church. I think there are plenty of very appropriate pieces in Bach’s work, including some which, in the context of Faust, comment on the plot through the lens of the moralising Christian ethos – and I also think that in his cantatas I’ve found the ideal soundtrack for the »Osterspaziergang« passage.
But if the whole thing works, it’s also because of the top-notch performers. I am overjoyed when Burghart Klaußner, one of the best-known Faust actors, jumped at the chance, and with him the brilliant Lea Ruckpaul, and in addition to them the man behind perhaps Germany’s best-known voice, Frank Arnold as Mephisto. Everyone is wildly looking forward to performing Faust in the original venue of scene five!

It will be a long performance, won’t it?

Yes, although I shortened the plot to about 120 minutes and cut down the parts of the three protagonists. But don’t worry – everybody will have the chance to fortify themselves before the performance with a cordon bleu menu. It’s set to be a culinary, musical and linguistic feast all rolled into one, and in the very same venue where Goethe caroused when he was a student in Leipzig. In other words, this fusion of the crown jewels of Leipzig’s cultural history is going to be a concert to remember!

Sun, 15 June / 6.00 pm / Auerbachs Keller / No 66
Mon, 16 June / 12.00 am / Auerbachs Keller / No 83
Mon, 16 June / 6.00 pm / Auerbachs Keller / No 92
Tue, 17 June / 12.00 am / Auerbachs Keller / No 102