Faust is a French opera in five acts by Charles Gounod , first performance at the ThÃ Ã cents tre-Lyrique in Paris , on March 19 , 1859 , libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel CarrÃ , after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 's play . Faust is a grand opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel CarrÃ from CarrÃ 's play Faust et Marguerite , in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 's Faust , Part 1 . It debuted at the ThÃ Ã cents tre Lyrique ( ThÃ Ã cents tre-Historique , OpÃ ra-National , Boulevard du Temple ) in Paris on March 19 , 1859 .