Inspired by Michel Carre’s 1850 stageplay Faust et Marguerite, Charles Gounod’s Faust was first staged in Paris in 1859, a time and place of political unease and outright war. A key character in the libretto is Marguerite’s brother Valentin, a soldier whose devotion to duty and righteousness sends him off to fight leaving his sister vulnerable to the affections of the diabolically assisted Faust, who promptly wins her affections, then impregnates and abandons her.