concept
Gounod's Faust -- Mephistopheles's Aria
Mephistopheles's aria
also: Из арии Мефистофеля, Le veau d'or, Song of the Golden Calf
The aria of Mephistopheles ('Le veau d'or', the Song of the Golden Calf) from Charles Gounod's opera Faust (1859), in which the Devil sings of gold's dominion over mankind; a staple of the Russian operatic stage, cited as the story's second epigraph to frame its plot as a miniature Faust bargain.
Reading notes
- The Poison §2 From Mephistopheles's aria.
A line taken from the aria of Mephistopheles ('Le veau d'or', the Song of the Golden Calf) in Charles Gounod's opera Faust (1859), in which the Devil sings of gold's dominion over mankind -- an operatic staple of the Russian stage in Chekhov's day, instantly recognizable to his readers and setting up the story's Devil-and-gold conceit before the narrative begins.