About the work
"Mefistofele" is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue by Arrigo Boito, based on Goethe's Faust, for which he wrote both libretto and music himself — his only completed opera. The original version premiered at La Scala in Milan on 5 March 1868 and failed; the thoroughly revised version, still performed today, had its successful premiere at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna on 4 October 1875.
Plot
In Heaven, Mefistofele wagers with God that he can win the soul of the scholar Faust, and duly makes a pact with him. With Mefistofele's help, Faust seduces the young Margherita, who is destroyed by guilt and despair, while Faust later encounters Helen of Troy in Greece during a classical Walpurgis Night. In old age, Faust realises that true happiness lies only in love and devotion; as he dies he breaks free of Mefistofele's grasp and is redeemed.
Cultural significance
Despite its failure in 1868, the revised version became Boito's only completed and internationally successful opera, and Mefistofele remains part of the repertoire of major opera houses today. Boito, who as a librettist also wrote the texts for Giuseppe Verdi's late masterpieces Otello and Falstaff, is considered one of the leading figures of the Italian artistic movement Scapigliatura.