What nineteenth-century German Romantic composer could resist trying to set Goethe's Faust? None of them, apparently, except Brahms: Mendelssohn had his Erste Walpurgisnacht, Wagner his Faust Overture, Schumann his Szenen aus Faust, Liszt his Faust Symphony and Mahler his Eighth Symphony with its setting of the closing of Faust's metaphysical, phantasmagorical, and almost incomprehensible Second Part. And, of course, Schubert's own fascination with Goethe began with his setting of Gretchen am Spinnrade from Faust. But this song only whetted Schubert's appetite for representing both Faust and Gretchen. After depicting the body and heart of Gretchen on October 19, 1814, he returned to her in early December of the same year and set her distraught mind and despairing soul in his Szene aus Faust (Scene from Faust, D. 126).

The particular scene Schubert chose to set is taken from the first part of Faust. Gretchen has returned to her church after having poisoned her mother and contemplates killing her unborn child. Set for a soprano taking the role of Gretchen, a baritone taking the role of an (or is it "the"?) evil spirit, a chorus as the church's congregation, and a pianist as a symphonic orchestra, Schubert's Szene aus Faust is an oratorio that verges on becoming an opera. With its insidious recitatives for baritone, its anguished arias for soprano, its choral interjections from the Dies Irae, Schubert's Szene aus Faust is a nasty and vile little piece of work which depicts the Evil Spirit compellingly, the deranged Gretchen compassionately, and the self-satisfied church choir convincingly. Had he returned to Faust in his maturity, Schubert's setting of it might have made all the others unnecessary. Unfortunately, of course, Schubert died, and the nineteenth century became the Faust century.

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