[1] By doing so, though this symphony is a multi-movement work and employs a male chorus in its final moments, Liszt adopts the same aesthetic position as in his symphonic poems.
One might say that this movement represents the very synthesis of the whole symphony, since many of its themes and motives appear throughout the score in various guises, a process of thematic transformation which Liszt mastered to the highest level during his Weimar years.
Following the introduction on the flutes and clarinets, we are given the pure oboe's melody figurated by the viola's tender decorations, which expresses Gretchen's virginal innocence.
Liszt's original version of 1854 ended with a last fleeting reference to Gretchen and an optimistic peroration in C major, based on the most majestic of themes from the opening movement.
With this direct association to the final scene of Goethe's drama we escape Faust's imaginings and hear another voice commenting on his striving and redemption.
The work is scored for an orchestral complement of piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four French horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, organ, harp, and strings.
For that reason he becomes more varied, more complete, richer, more communicative ... (than Manfred) ... Faust's personality scatters and dissipates itself; he takes no action, lets himself be driven, hesitates, experiments, loses his way, considers, bargains, and is interested in his own little happiness.
Manfred could certainly not have thought of putting up with the bad company of Mephistopheles, and if he had loved Marguerite he would have been able to kill her, but never abandon her in a cowardly manner like Faust.
He had barely served out his first year as Kapellmeister when Grand Duke Carl Alexander decreed that the city would celebrate the centennial of Goethe's birth on 28 August 1849.
During this celebration Liszt conducted, among other things, excerpts from Robert Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust for orchestra and choir.
After the centennial remembrance, he helped in the creation of a Goethe Foundation; this culminated in the publication of Liszt's brochure De la Fondation-Goethe à Weimar.
[7] The performance of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust in 1852, conducted by the composer, encouraged Liszt further, though he still hesitated, writing Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, "Anything having to do with Goethe is dangerous for me to handle."
This period coincided with a visit to Weimar by English novelist Mary Ann (Marian) Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot.
During visits to Liszt's residence, the Altenburg, Lewes and Eliot had several discussions with both him and Princess Carolyne about Goethe and his place in German literature.
[9] After its première under Liszt's baton in 1857, the symphony (in its revised version with final chorus and tenor solo) received a second performance under Hans von Bülow in 1861, the year the score was published.
Richard Wagner witnessed the performance in Weimar: "Bülow, who had been chosen to conduct Liszt’s Faust Symphony, seemed to me the wildest of all.
He had learned the entire score by heart, and gave us an unusually precise, intelligent, and spirited performance with an orchestra composed of anything but the pick of German players.