Though not a complete recording of the full opera, these excerpts from the Metropolitan Opera's golden age offer an electrifying snapshot of Gounod's romantic masterpiece brought to life by an all-star ensemble including soprano Eleanor Steber, tenor Raoul Jobin, baritone Georges Cehanovsky, and bass-baritone Norman Cordon.
The Composer: Charles Gounod
To appreciate the significance of this 1940 Faust recording, one must first understand the profound impact of its composer, Charles-Francois Gounod (1818-1893). A titan of French Romantic opera, Gounod occupies a central place in 19th-century music alongside luminaries like Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Massenet, and Saint-Saëns.
Born in Paris to a family of artists and scholars, Gounod's prodigious musical talents were evident from a very young age. He won the prestigious Prix de Rome at just 20 years old, kicking off a six-decade career that would see him compose 12 operas, numerous oratorios, sacred works, and songs.
While early operas like Sapho and La nonne sanglante brought him modest success, it was Faust in 1859 that proved Gounod's breakout triumph. Based on Goethe's dramatic masterpiece, the opera's story of an aging scholar who trades his soul to the devil for renewed youth and romance struck a chord with audiences. More importantly, Gounod's richly melodic, emotionally direct music made Faust an instant classic of the French grand opera tradition.
Arias like Marguerite's celebrated "Jewel Song," Faust's tender "Salut, demeure chaste et pure," and Valentin's poignant "Avant de quitter ces lieux" became signature vehicles for great voices. The opera is replete with striking duets, trios, and choruses, seamlessly blending the Germanic penchant for orchestral richness with quintessential French lyricism and textual clarity. Faust would remain Gounod's most enduring success, though popular works like the opera Roméo et Juliette and his famous setting of the Ave Maria would follow.
After spending several years in England during the Franco-Prussian War, Gounod returned to Paris to cap off a decorated career. He was elected to the prestigious Institut de France and received the Légion d'Honneur. In his later years, the composer and teacher exerted a major influence through former students like Georges Bizet and theoretical writings on vocal training and orchestration.
While interest in Gounod's operas waned somewhat in the mid-20th century, recent decades have seen a resurgent appreciation for his melodic genius. Both Faust and Roméo et Juliette have been revived worldwide by major companies and recorded by a new generation of celebrated singers drawn to the vocal riches of Gounod's scores. This historic 1940 Faust recording reminds us why the composer's works were so beloved in his time.
The 1940 Recording Sessions
This recording was made in New York City and Philadelphia in the late spring of 1940 by RCA Victor with the Producer's Service Symphony Orchestra, a freelance ensemble of around 45 musicians under the baton of Wilfrid Pelletier. An esteemed conductor, Pelletier had led the Metropolitan Opera for over three decades at that point and made numerous recordings with their star soloists.
Producer Charles O'Connell supervised the sessions on May 30-31 in New York and June 17 in Philadelphia. They captured excerpts from Gounod's opera featuring a true 'dream cast' drawn from the upper echelons of the Met's French opera roster in 1940.
As the innocent, ill-fated heroine Marguerite, the bright-toned, incredibly agile 26-year-old Eleanor Steber was on the cusp of becoming one of the most beloved dramatic sopranos in Met history over the next two decades. Already renowned for her crystalline tone and impeccable phrasing, Steber would go on to make very few commercial recordings showcasing her French repertoire. So, these excerpts capture her in her youthful prime, assaying one of opera's most iconic roles.
The elegant, lyric-toned Raoul Jobin likely voiced the role of the world-weary philosopher Faust. However, documentation is unclear as to whether it was him or the more spinto-sized Armand Tokatyan. Textual evidence and comparisons to other recordings indicate
Jobin as the more likely interpreter. A noted exponent of French opera at the Met for many seasons, his nuanced, Gallic phrasing and ringing top notes make him an ideal Faust.
As Marguerite's protective brother Valentin, Russian-born George Cehanovsky deploys his virile, penetrating baritone to great effect. His heroic arias, like the haunting "Avant de quitter ces lieux," ring out thrillingly. In the devilish role of Mephistopheles, the charismatic Norman Cordon oozes sinister bravado, chillingly embodying the demonic orchestrator of Faust's damnation.
Under Pelletier's expert direction, the assembled orchestral players and Met opera chorus lend precision and dramatic flair befitting the high-stakes narrative. The sound quality is remarkably lifelike and immediate for 1940 recording technology. While the cramped 78rpm disc format relegates this to excerpts rather than a complete opera, the 27 minutes of music preserved gives us a thrilling approximation of what it must have been like to experience this Faust production onstage during this period.
An Energized, Historic Performance
From the rousing introduction of the Act II Kermesse festival scene to Marguerite's climactic confrontation with Faust and Mephistopheles in the shattering Act V prison sequence, this recording transports one to an era when French grand opera was routinely performed at the Met by casts of international vocal celebrities singing in the original language.
Steber spins shimmering, seemingly endless phrases highlighted by effortless trills and a laser-focused projection in the immortal Jewel Song. Jobin matches her plush, elegant vocalism in their rapturous Act III’s Garden duet "Il se fait tard, mais..." Their voices intertwine in creamy, transfixing harmonies words cannot describe.
By contrast, Cehanovsky's searing delivery of Valentin's "farewell" monologue before leaving for battle conveys virile, patriotic intensity. While Cordon's diabolical cackles and mocking asides as Mephistopheles cut through the texture with sinister impact. The opera's narrative drama comes through vividly in each passage.
Ultimately, any minor technical faults caused by the rushed nature of recording these pieces in just three working days, which also included any needed rehearsals done before committing two complete takes for any given selection as the preserved master for each issued side, are eclipsed by the singularly memorable vocalism on display. This is a cherished opportunity to experience elite Metropolitan Opera artists of the 1940s firm in their prime, captured for posterity in arguably the iconic roles they were most identified with. The recording represents a priceless souvenir of a vanished era and an aural window into enduring operatic greatness.
A Lasting Memento of Golden Voices
For opera aficionados and collectors, this 1940 recording of Faust excerpts is an irreplaceable treasure to be celebrated and preserved. We can be grateful these records survived to offer modern listeners such an evocative taste of the Metropolitan Opera's glory days just before World War II.
Here is an electrifying encapsulation of French grand opera's final exhilarating flowering on the American stage before evolving public tastes led to its gradual disappearance from the repertoire. These vintage performances' vitality and idiomatic authority make a compelling case for the timeless appeal and musical potency of Gounod's melodious, dramatically charged writing.
Most priceless of all is the chance to experience the young Eleanor Steber just before her long reign at the Metropolitan Opera as one of the most celebrated dramatic sopranos of the 1940s and 50s. Her vocally radiant, dramatically committed portrayal of the ill-fated Marguerite here gives but a tantalizing preview of the artistic heights she would scale in years to come on the Met stage.
Steber's fabled collaborations with legendary conductors like Arturo Toscanini and colleagues like Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill have been extensively documented. But this 1940 Faust excerpt represents a rarer opportunity to appreciate Steber's distinctively warm, focused sound and innate sense of French style in one of opera's most iconic roles.
Similarly, these recordings allow us to savor the vintage vocals of artists like Cehanovsky and Cordon, who were mainstays at the Met for many seasons but left relatively few commercial recordings behind as documentation of their artistry. To experience their unique talents preserved so vitally on these discs is an irreplaceable gift for opera devotees.
One can easily envision American households in 1940 picking up these sensationally priced record sets to take home and play on their phonographs to be treated to excerpts from the latest Metropolitan Opera production of Gounod's Faust, boasting some of the finest French-trained voices of the day. The searing intensity and dramatic commitment from this stellar cast likely had many listeners privileged to hear it.
Conclusion: An Indispensable Musical Document
While just excerpts from a complete performance, this invaluable 1940 recording represents a priceless document of a significant moment in American operatic history. At a level of vocal artistry and technical accomplishment we can only admire today, it showcases the crème de la crème of Metropolitan Opera talent, tackling one of the French grand opera tradition's most iconic scores.
As much as it illuminates the performers' considerable interpretive skills and musical versatility, the recording is also a powerful reminder of the rich perspective on operatic dramaturgy they brought to bear on this beloved classic. We are treated to operatic storytelling of the highest caliber that unlocks the emotional complexity and psychological nuance pulsing through Gounod's abundantly melodic score.
Yet, above all, it is the sheer luxury of itself that makes this recording an undeniable treasure for any serious collector of historical opera recordings or devotee of the French operatic tradition. Here is an elite ensemble of world-class vocalists pouring their artistry into this richly melodic and dramatically potent music at the peak of their interpretive powers.
From Steber's shimmering high notes and immaculate lyricism to Cordon's malevolent cackles and vocal charisma, the performances capture a bygone theatrical grandeur and musical eloquence we can only marvel at today. For the chance to experience these iconic roles inhabited with such panache and musical integrity, fans of Gounod's beloved Faust can be profoundly grateful this recording was made and preserved for modern audiences to appreciate anew.
While opera appreciation and tastes have evolved over the decades, landmark recordings like this ensure that the timeless glories of works like Gounod's Faust can continue inspiring audiences and showcasing the talents of generation after generation of great singing actors. This 1940 document represents a cherished souvenir of that eternal musical legacy that can still resonate with listeners today.
Further Reading:
- Corder, Frederick. "Charles François Gounod." The Musical Times, Dec. 1893, pp. 769–775.
- Flynn, Timothy. Charles Gounod: A Research and Information Guide. Routledge, 2005.
- Giroud, Vincent. The French Opera: A Short History. Yale University Press, 2010.
- Huebner, Steven. "Gounod, Charles." Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Metropolitan Opera Archives. https://archives.metoperafamily.org/
- Metropolitan Opera Database. https://www.metopera.org/history/
- Steber, Eleanor, and Marcia Davenport. Eleanor Steber: An Autobiography. Vanguard Press, 1953.
- Di Profio, Alessandro. "The Discography of Charles Gounod." The Opera Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 4, 2001, pp. 670–692.
- Fulcher, Jane F. The Nation's Image: French Grand Opera as Politics and Politicized Art. Cambridge University Press, 1987.
- Laciar, Isaura. "Faust and the French Tradition." Opera Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 2-3, 2007, pp. 117-136.
- Perry, Gresham. "The Operas of Charles Gounod." PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, 1970.
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