Spohr had left his court appointment at
Gotha and taken up a post in Vienna at the
Theater an der Wien, which had recently been purchased by Count
Ferdinánd Pálffy de Erdöd. Spohr composed the opera in less than four months, May to September 1813 but had difficulties with Count Pálffy that interfered with getting it staged in Vienna. Though he took the manuscript score privately to
Giacomo Meyerbeer, who played it, with Spohr singing — supplementing his vocal range by whistling — it was not until
Carl Maria von Weber took an interest in the score that it received its premiere. Weber conducted the first performance of
Faust at the
Estates Theatre in Prague on 1 September 1816. Meyerbeer introduced it at Berlin. In its original form, the opera was a
Singspiel in two acts. In 1851, Spohr turned the piece into a
grand opera in three acts, replacing the spoken dialogue with
recitative. This version (in an Italian translation) received its premiere in London at the
Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden, on 15 July 1852. A performance was given by the
University College Opera at the
Bloomsbury Theatre in February 1984. In 1993 the
Bielefeld Opera also performed this form of
Faust in what was claimed to be the first staged production worldwide since 1931. Conducted by
Geoffrey Moull and directed by , the opera was given eight performances and subsequently recorded for
CPO. ==Roles==