Ballet fantastique in three acts
Music by Giacomo Panizza, Michael Andrew Costa and Niccolò Bajetti

World Première
12th February 1848
Teatro alla Scala, Milan
Choreography by Jules Perrot

Original 1848 Cast
Faust
Effisio Catte

Marguerite
Fanny Elssler

Mephistopheles
Jules Perrot

Bambo, Queen of the Demons
Ekaterina Costantini

Saint Petersburg Première
14th February [O.S. 2nd February] 1854
Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre
Choreography by Jules Perrot

Original 1854 Cast
Faust
Marius Petipa

Marguerite
Guglielmina Salvioni

Mephistopheles
Jules Perrot

Première of Petipa’s revival
14th November [O.S. 2nd November] 1867
Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre

Original 1867 Cast
Marguerite
Maria Surovshchikova-Petipa

Mephistopheles
Timofei Stukolkin

Plot
Doctor Faust recites a spell that summons Mephistopheles from Hell. He is offered youth and the love of a beautiful woman in exchange for a contract with the powers of Hell. Faust agrees and Mephistopheles sets about winning the love of a sweet village girl named Marguerite for him. In order to make Marguerite forget her sweetheart Valentin, Mephistopheles puts the girl in the power of the Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth tries to persuade her to give up spinning; Pride and Envy tempt her with jewels; Wrath makes her cast off her adornments; Greed advises her to gather them up; Gluttony offers her many fruit from the garden; Lust whispers temptations while pointing her  towards Faust. So that no one will interfere with their love, Marguerite poisons her own mother, while Faust kills Valentin. However, all these horrors drive Marguerite mad and Faust has visions of Marguerite’s death on the scaffold. He turns on Mephistopheles, but the demon merely laughs and shows him the contract. However, fire from Heaven incinerates the document and at that same moment, the spectres vanish, while Faust and Marguerite are united in Heaven.