Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

While cycling through a dark forest at night, a young boy is visited by der Erlkönig, a harbinger of death. He asks for his father to save him but the father can't see the Erlkönig and there is nothing to stop the approach of death.

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The director, Roland Schwab, has created his version of Hell. The set is like a high iron walled hanger and the stage is continually occupied with people who look like fugitives from Mad Max and who interact with Mefistofele. The orchestra and choir are wonderful. Rene Pape gives a nuanced interpretation with a certain amount of sardonic humour under the evil. His singing and acting are first rate, as is that of Kristine Opolais and Joseph Calleja.

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Eternal Variations: "Demon", "Theseus" and "Faust" The third short story "Faust" is the author's interpretation of Goethe's tragedy.

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Alain Guingal conducts the Orchestre du Teatro Regio di Torino in this production of Massenet's opera based on the novel 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Goethe. Roberto Alagna stars as the titular character, a lovelorn poet whose heart is set on a beautiful young woman of his acquaintance. Unfortunately, the girl in question has already pledged herself to another. How will Werther deal with the thwarting of his romantic ambitions?

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The three main soloists have voices on a scale that can compete with these flashy production values – White and Kasarova, in particular, sing at a level of intensity that would swamp anything less; the climactic seduction trio has rarely been sung so well or with such an overpoweringly polymorphous eroticism. Cambreling marshals his forces effectively, giving full rein to the work's showstoppers like the "Hungarian March" but not neglecting the subtler less kinetic Gluckian side of Berlioz's vocal writing. Recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele, 1999.

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Homeless, all thrown Mephistopheles is suffering from idleness and boredom. In a market where you can buy everything - from gralic to books on Russian history, he manages to find the soul of a ballet dancer.

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1989 recording of the San Francisco Opera production of Mefistofele: Boito's retelling of Goethe's Faust

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Three zany puppets bring to life our greatest opera treasures, as Joan Sutherland, the world’s most famous soprano, performs their highlights. The puppets make up the audience: Sir William, a wise old goat; Little Billy, his nephew; and Rudi, a rather boisterous lion. Sutherland first introduces them to the story of each opera. Then, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra and a first-rate cast, she moves onto the opera stage, complete with elaborate sets and elegant costumes. After each exquisite aria, the diva comes back to her inquisitive friends and unfolds the plot.

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Les Cent Livres des Hommes (ORTF, 1969-1973) was a series of literary programs created by Claude Santelli and Françoise Verny, and produced notably by Santelli, Jean Archimbaud, and Serge Moati. Planned for one hundred episodes but completed at thirty-nine, the series aimed to introduce great literary works, 'chefs-d’œuvre', to a younger audience through a mix of dramatization, reading, and documentary techniques. It marked a transfer of cultural legitimacy from writers and critics to a generation of television producers, offering a new model of educational and creative literary broadcasting - 'télévision d’auteur'.

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A despairing scholar sells his soul to Satan in exchange for one night with a beautiful young woman.

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Ballet performed to Dukas' "The Sorceror's Apprentice".

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Alternate-language version of Le roi des aulnes (1931)

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The various parts of Faust are played by puppets.

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Satan conjures a vision of a girl, for whom an old man signs a pact and is made young. This is a lost film from George Albert Smith

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