Mats Norrman asks:

>Why did Liszt write the "Faust" symphony? I would like to know why....

I have no idea why he wrote it.  However, Goethe's Faust was at the
time considered throughout Europe as the greatest modern poem.  German
composers were so intimidated by it, I don't believe any set it as an
opera.  Meyerbeer turned down a libretto by Barbier and Carre with the
remark that Faust was "the Ark of the Covenant, not to be profaned with
music." At any rate, Barbier and Carre submitted their libretto to Gounod,
who had no such scruples and went on to score a great success with it.
Boito, of course, based his Mefistofile on the Goethe poem.  Now that I
think of it, I believe Spohr did write a Faust opera, but the libretto's
plot differs significantly from the poem (or so I'm told; I've never heard
it).  Schumann wrote a cantata - Szenen aus Faust - as did Berlioz with Le
Damnation de Faust.  I believe Liszt got started after hearing the Berlioz.

Steve Schwartz