"Il était un roi de Thulé" (Faust, Act III)

Overview

The ballad Marguerite sings at her spinning wheel in Act III of Charles Gounod's Faust (Théâtre Lyrique, Paris, 19 March 1859), a melancholy song about a king of Thule faithful to his dead beloved, who kept her golden cup until his death. The text is adapted from Goethe's Faust. (Source: Wikipedia, "Faust (opera)", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust_(opera).) Public domain. For the opera see Faust.

Marie and this work

• 068.0928 (2 Feb 1877, Nice): at a performance of Faust she describes a Marguerite who "ne chantait pas"; when she "entama l'air du roi de Thulé" Marie trembled for her and hid at the back of the box "comme si c'était moi la chanteuse".
• 069.0634 (30 Mar 1877, Naples): she sings the air "d'une voix fraîche et forte et avec une délicieuse expression", then a Russian romance.
• 070.0001, 070.0023 (3 Apr 1877, Sorrento): she sings the ballad to Count Larderel, then asks what his belle left him; the stanza is quoted in 070.0023. The conversation moves to Faust and Marguerite: "Faust trompé n'est que souverainement ridicule, tandis que Marguerite trompée n'a pas autre chose à faire… que mourir."

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Faust (opera)" (above); diary paragraphs and RSR/LAN notes as cited.