The old philosopher Faust, in his study, is tired of life, but
hearing the cheerful sounds of life outside, now calls on the
Devil to help him.
Mephistopheles appears and grants
him wealth and power and, at his request, youth, in return for
his soul.
Faust remains the most famous operatic
treatment of Goethe™s play.
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The legend of a man selling his soul to the devil seems to have
particular resonance at times of moral crisis.
The
legend is loosely based on the life of Johann Georg Faust (c
1480–1540), an alchemist and practitioner of necromancy, a form
of ‘black magic’. A chapbook speculating on his infamous
exploits circulated in the late 16th Century, inspiring
Christopher Marlowe’s play The Tragical History of the Life and
Death of Doctor Faustus, first performed in London around 1592.
At approximately the same time, the legend of Pan Twardowski, a
sorcerer who sold his soul to the devil, began to take root in
Polish folklore.
