things, that the poet-composer conceives Faust as the type of man athirst for knowledge, of whom Solomon was the Biblical prototype, Prometheus the mythological, Manfred and Don Quixote the predecessors in modern literature.  Also that Mephistopheles is as inexhaustible as a type of evil as Faust is as a type of virtue, and therefore that this picturesque stage devil, with all his conventionality, is akin to the serpent which tempted Eve, the Thersites of Homer, and—­mirabile dictu!—­the Falstaff of Shakespeare!

The device with which Boito tried to link the scenes of his opera together is musical as well as philosophical.  In the book which Barbier and Carre wrote for Gounod, Faust sells his soul to the devil for a period of sensual pleasure of indefinite duration, and, so far as the hero is concerned, the story is left unfinished.  All that has been accomplished is the physical ruin of Marguerite.  Mephistopheles exults for a moment in contemplation of the destruction, also, of the immortal part of her, but the angelic choir proclaims her salvation.  Faust departs hurriedly with Mephistopheles, but whether to his death or in search of new adventures, we do not know.  The Germans are, therefore, not so wrong, after all, in calling the opera after the name of the heroine instead of that of the hero.  In Boito’s book the love story is but an incident.  Faust’s compact with Mefistofele, as in Goethe’s dramatic poem, is the outcome of a wager between Mefistofele and God, under the terms of which the Spirit of Evil is to be permitted to seduce Faust from righteousness, if he can.  Faust’s demand of Mefistofele is rest from his unquiet, inquisitive mind; a solution of the dark problem of his own existence and that of the world; finally, one moment of which he can say, “Stay, for thou art lovely!  “The amour with Margherita does not accomplish this, and so Boito follows Goethe into the conclusion of the second part of his drama, and shows Faust, at the end, an old man about to die.  He recalls the loves of Margherita and Helen, but they were insufficient to give him the desired moment of happiness.  He sees a vision of a people governed by him and made happy by wise laws of his creation.  He goes into an ecstasy.  Mefistofele summons sirens to tempt him; and spreads his cloak for another flight.  But the chant of celestial beings falls into Faust’s ear, and he speaks the words which terminate the compact.  He dies.  Mefistofele attempts to seize upon him, but is driven back by a shower of roses dropped by cherubim.  The celestial choir chants redeeming love.

Thus much for the dramatic exposition.  Boito’s musical exposition rests on the employment of typical phrases, not in the manner of Wagner, indeed, but with the fundamental purpose of Wagner.  A theme:—­

[Musical excerpt]