Faust ballets are a set of ballets, choreographed between the 18th and 20th centuries, based on the legend of

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

. As early as 1723, London-based

John Rich John Rich (born January 7, 1974) is an American country music singer-songwriter. From 1992 to 1998, he was a member of the country band Lonestar, in which he played bass guitar and alternated with Richie McDonald as lead vocalist. After depa ...

put on a Faust-inspired ballet pantomime called ''The Necromancer'' at the

Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre Lisle's Tennis Court was a building off Portugal Street in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. Originally built as a real tennis court, it was used as a playhouse during two periods, 1661–1674 and 1695–1705. During the early period, ...

. In the 19th century several productions took Faust as their subject matter including

August Bournonville August Bournonville (21 August 1805 – 30 November 1879) was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the ne ...

s 1832 production ''Faust'' for the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet ( Danish: ''Den Kongelige Ballet'') is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world a ...

. In 1833, Andre Deshayes ''Faust'' premiered in London with music by

Adolphe Adam Adolphe Charles Adam (; 24 July 1803 – 3 May 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets ''Giselle'' (1841) and ''Le corsaire'' (1856), his operas ''Le post ...

. On 12 February 1848, a Faust ballet premiered at the Ballet of the Teatro alla Scala in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. This version featured choreography and libretto by Jules Perrot and music by Giacomo Panizza, Michael Costa (conductor), Michael Andrew Costa, and Niccolò Bajetti, with Fanny Elssler (as Marguerite), Perrot (as Mephistophelis), Effisio Catte (as Faust), and Ekaterina Costantini (as Bambo, Queen of the Demons). Perrot revived the ballet three times between 1848 and 1854, the last featuring a revised score by Cesare Pugni. In 1867, Marius Petipa revived this version again for the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, St. Petersburg, using the revised Pugni score. In 1852 Paul Taglioni, brother of Maria Taglioni (the first ballerina to dance ''Pointe technique, en pointe''), choreographed ''Satanella oder Metamorphosen'' with music by composed by Peter Ludwig Hertel. A few years later, Julius Reisingers ''Mephistophelia'' premiered in Hamburg and Meyer Lutz composed the score for Joseph Lanners 1895 production. The trend continued into the 20th century with ballets created by Remislav Remislavsky, Heiner Luipart and female choreographer Nina Kirsanova based on an unstaged 19th century libretto Der Doktor Faust, written by Heinrich Heine. Romantic music, Romantic composer Hector Berlioz, Berliozs ''La Damnation de Faust'' was staged by French choreographer Maurice Béjart for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1964). Béjarts 1975 production ''Notre Faust'' was set to Bachs ''B minor Mass''. Béjart himself danced in ''Notre Faust'' at its New York City premiere in 1977.

References

{{Faust, state=collapsed Faust Works based on the Faust legend Ballets based on literature Ballets by Jules Perrot Ballets by Marius Petipa Ballets by Giacomo Panizza Ballets by Michael Costa (conductor) Ballets by Niccolò Bajetti 1840s ballets 1848 works Ballets premiered at the La Scala Theatre Mythology in ballet