Seid nüchtern und wachet... [Faust Cantata]

Alfred Schnittke based on Johan Spies' 'Historia von D. Johann Fausten' (G,R)

The cantata was commissioned by the Wiener Festwochen in 1982/83. The composer himself once described the work as a ‘negative passion’. This was a direct reference to the epilogue of the work, which he had taken from the First Epistle of St Peter in the New Testament and also wanted it to be understood as a personal credo. ‘Be sober and watch’, it says here, ‘for your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour’. Using polystylistic means, Schnittke borrows from the style of great Passion music of the Baroque period and has the choir begin the described action with an introductory prologue and end with an instructive conclusion. The narrative passages are sung by a tenor. Schnittke's idea of casting the initially masked devil with a countertenor is magnificent, while the unmasked, diabolical Mephisto is then sung by an alto. In the night scene no. 7 ‘Es geschah ...’, Schnittke surprisingly inserts an infernal tango, as it were.