La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24: Hungarian (Rakoczy) March: Full Orchestra, Conductor Score & Parts

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) completed The Damnation of Faust, Op. 24 in 1846. A work for four solo voices, chorus, children's chorus, and orchestra, Berlioz originally intended the work, based on Goethe's dramatic poem, to be an opera, though most of the work's fame has come through concert performances given the difficulty staging it. The premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on December 6, 1846, was met with indifference, perhaps because it exists between being an opera and a cantata, but it now sees frequent performances in concert halls, and it is occasionally staged as an opera. A few wholly instrumental works are included, and among them is Berlioz's version of the Rákóczi March, usually called the Hungarian March (H 109). Berlioz had actually written the march separately for a concert on February 15, 1846, in Pest, Hungary, and the success was so great that he decided to incorporate it into his larger project as the conclusion to Part I, with a few small tweaks. It is this version commonly heard today. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2.2.4: 4.2+Crnt(2).3.1: Timp.Perc(3-4): Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set).