Doktor Faust is an opera by Ferruccio Busoni with a libretto by the composer himself based on the myth of Faust. Busoni worked on the opera, which he intended as his masterpiece, between 1916 and 1924, but it was still incomplete at the time of his death. His pupil Philipp Jarnach produced a version which was premiered at the Sachsiches Staatstheater, Dresden on 21 May 1925. More recently, Anthony Beaumont has completed the opera using sketches by Busoni which were previously thought to have been lost. The Teatro alla Scala in Milan. ... Ferruccio Busoni Dante Michaelangelo Benvenuto Ferruccio Busoni (April 1, 1866 – July 27, 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, music teacher and conductor. ... A libretto is the complete body of words used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. ... Faust or Faustus is the protagonist of a popular German tale of a pact with the Devil, assumed to be based on the figure of the German magician and alchemist Dr. Johann Georg Faust (approximately 1480–1540). ... For other uses, see Dresden (disambiguation). ... May 21 is the 141st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (142nd in leap years). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Recordings

Doktor Faust Orchestre et Choeur de l'Opéra National de Lyon, Kent Nagano (Erato, 1999) Kent Nagano is the current music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. ...

Sources

• Booklet notes to the Nagano recording by Pascal Huynh
• The Viking Opera Guide edited by Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993)