Previous posts for June 17th are found here: Charles Gounod (2019), Charles Gounod (2020) Igor Stravinsky (2020), Igor Stravinsky; Jerry Fielding (2021), and Sidney Jones; Igor Stravinsky (2022)
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Charles Gounod (17 June 1818 – 17 or 18 October 1893) was once enormously popular as an opera composer. Several of his works still hold the stage today.
Faustian Bargain Basement
It also earned him the lasting wrath of the Germans, who were enraged by the way in which Gounod had altered what they saw as their national masterpiece. Even today Germans rarely call the work by its proper name. Instead, they give its title as Margarethe, to emphasize that Gounod’s opera in no way represents Goethe’s Faust. — Brittanica.com, s.v. “Faust, opera by Gounod“
The Germans have grumbled and groused
Concerning the opera Faust,
Complaining the thing has the stench
Of the sickly parfum of the French.
After all, it’s their national play,
And who should know better than they
That the Faust of Herr Goethe is deep,
While the Faust of the Frenchman is cheap,
And though not forbidden to do it
They give a new moniker to it.
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Lauds.
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