‘The Damnation of Faust.’--This ‘dramatic legend,’ as the composer calls it, is the aftermath of an early and immature work, ‘Eight Scenes from Faust’ (published in 1829 as opus 1), and was composed in 1845 and ‘46, part of it here and there while on a concert tour in Austria and Hungary, the rest in Paris. Its first performance took place at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, December 6, 1846, under the direction of the composer, before a wretchedly small audience and without success. In Germany it was produced at the Royal Opera House, Berlin, June 19, 1847, Berlioz conducting. Though parts of it were frequently given in England, the first complete performance did not take place until February 5, 1880, at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, when Charles Hallé conducted it. In New York a few days later, on February 12th, it had its first American hearing under the direction of Dr. Leopold Damrosch with the combined Oratorio and Arion Societies. ‘The Damnation of Faust’ is undoubtedly Berlioz’s masterpiece and sums up the best qualities of his exuberant and fantastic style. Both instrumental and choral parts are overlaid with a wealth of romantic and poetic coloring, the orchestration is dazzling, and the chorus is brilliantly handled. Many of its most beautiful and effective numbers were retained almost without alteration from his earlier ‘Eight Scenes from Faust’--the work of a youth of twenty-five years. These include the scene where Faust is lulled to sleep by the sylphs, the peasants’ song, the songs of the rat and the flea, the King of Thule ballad, and Mephistopheles’ serenade.