ment has two main themes,e.g.
[Music: (a)]
[Music: (b)]
which portray eloquently the sweetness and dreamy ecstacy of
Gretchen’s nature. In the course of this portrayal there ap-
pear several themes from the first movement showing, by their
transformation, the effect upon the introspective Faust of the
awakening influence of love. Thus the love theme appears as—
[Music]
and also later in this form—
[Music]
Towards the close of the movement there is a subtle reference
to the chivalrous theme, as follows—
[Music]
Much of the appeal of the music depends upon the orchestration
which throughout is of remarkable beauty.
In the final movement, entitled Mephistopheles, there are a few
independent themes which portray the malign influence of the
spirit of Evil—the movement is marked Allegro vivace ironico!—
but most of the material is a transformation of the Faust themes
which are here burlesqued, parodied; as if all the noble aspi-
rations of Faust were being mocked and set at naught. This
treatment is a perfectly logical result of the correspondence,
for which Liszt was striving, between the music and the spirit
of the underlying drama. As for the final impressiveness of
his artistic message, the composer may well have felt that the
effect would be indefinite without the specific meaning which
words alone can give. For the style is very subjective through-
out; that is, if the hearer is in a responsive condition, an ef-
fect is produced on his imagination—otherwise, not. To close
the work, therefore, in the most moving and dignified man-
ner, Liszt, with unerring instinct and following the precedent
of Beethoven in the Ninth Symphony, introduces a chorus of
men’s voices—marked Andante Mistico—which intones the fa-
mous stanza “Alles Vergängliche"[248] at the close of the sec-
ond part of Faust; while, above this chorus, a solo tenor pro-
claims the motto of the redeeming love of woman, “Das ewig