After the title character of Goethe’s “Faust” concludes his deal with Mephistopheles, the demon takes Faust to Auerbach’s Keller (a real place), where in a drunken revelry of bawdy and sacrilegious stories and songs, the process of corruption begins.
In Auerbach’s Keller of Goethe’s “Faust,” Mephistopheles sings a satirical song about a flea elevated to prominence by a king. This is the third song of Beethoven’s Opus 75, titled “Aus Goethes Faust” (“From Goethe’s Faust”), also known as “Flohlied” — the Song of the Flea.
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“Aus Goethes Faust” / “Flohlied” (Opus 75, No. 3), 1809
The English subtitles provide a great addition to this live performance by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore.
Beethoven first sketched “Aus Goethes Faust” in 1790, basing it on Goethe’s preliminary 1790 publication “Faust. Ein Fragment.” Beethoven’s interest in the song might have been revived by the publication of completed Part 1 of “Faust” in 1806.
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“Aus Goethes Faust” / “Flohlied” (Opus 75, No. 3), 1809
An audience recording from the balcony of Anne Sophie von Otter accompanied by Angela Hewitt with much visual reaction to the flea by Ms. Otter.
Beethoven's score of “Aus Goethes Faust” directs that the last two lines of the song be sung by a chorus. This is virtually never observed in concert, although Anne Sophie von Otter attempts to persuade the audience to sing along.
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“Aus Goethes Faust” / “Flohlied” (Opus 75, No. 3), 1809
You might encounter an ad at the beginning of this video, but power through because it’s Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano recording a new album!
In the penultimate measure of “Aus Goethe’s Faust,” Beethoven wrote a “1” above each of the two adjacent notes of the piano accompaniment, indicating that the notes were to be played with the thumb.
At an early performance, one eyewitness reported:
“When they reached the end, Beethoven laughed and showed them how it should be played, playing two notes with his thumb each time, as when crushing a flea.”
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“Aus Goethes Faust” / “Flohlied” (Opus 75, No. 3), 1809
YouTube searches uncover many videos of lesser-known singers having fun with this song. This is one of them.
Goethe’s Flea Song was also set by Berlioz in his 1829 “Eight Scenes from Faust” and more famous 1846 oratorio “Damnation of Faust,” Wagner in his “Faust Lieder” of 1831, Mussorgsky (quite famously) in “Song of the Flea” in 1879, and Busoni in “Lied des Mephistopheles” of 1918.
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“Aus Goethes Faust” / “Flohlied” (Opus 75, No. 3), 1809
As one of his last compositions, Shostakovich arranged Beethoven’s song in a Russian translation for orchestra and bass. Here’s a studio recording.