About this edition
Liszt's Faust Symphony, S.108, stands as one of the most ambitious and influential orchestral works of the nineteenth century — a sprawling, three-movement "character study" after Goethe in which each movement portrays a central figure: Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles. Completed in 1854 and revised with the addition of a choral finale in 1857, the symphony is justly celebrated for its searching chromatic harmony, its pioneering use of thematic transformation, and the uncanny third movement in which Mephistopheles parodies and distorts Faust's own themes — a stroke of psychological insight that prefigures Wagner, Mahler, and the entire late-Romantic symphonic tradition.
This score is reproduced from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel collected edition — Franz Liszts Musikalische Werke, Serie I, Bände 8–9, published in Leipzig in 1917 under plate number F.L. 14. The Breitkopf Gesammtausgabe, prepared in the early twentieth century by editors including Peter Raabe and José Vianna da Motta, drew directly upon the first Schuberth edition of 1861 and remains a cornerstone reference for Liszt scholarship and performance. For decades it has served as the standard study and conducting score for this monumental work.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score (study and reference format)
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from the 1917 Breitkopf & Härtel collected edition (plate F.L. 14), based on the Schuberth edition of 1861
- Includes all three movements: Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles, with the choral Chorus mysticus finale
- Carefully prepared from a clean public domain source for clarity and legibility
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
This edition makes a landmark of the symphonic repertoire readily available to conductors, orchestral players, students, and Liszt enthusiasts by reproducing a historical score that has long since entered the public domain. We're delighted to help keep great music in print and on music stands where it belongs.
