Doktor Faust - First Edition - 1851

Author: Heinrich Heine

Language: German

Publisher: Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg, 1851

 "Doctor Faust" is not a conventional play, but rather a dance poem designed for the ballet stage. Heine originally wrote the work for the London theater director Benjamin Lumley. The planned ballet, however, was never performed. The plot combines the classic Faust legend with dance, satire, eroticism, magic, and romantic demonology. Faust conjures the female devil figure Mephistophela, makes a pact, and is led through a series of fantastic scenes to a witches' sabbath.

The dance poem is supplemented by Heine’s detailed reflections on the Faust legend, notions of the devil, witchcraft, poetry, and the cultural-historical background of the material. The German edition was published in 1851 with 106 pages.