‘Mefistofele’ is an opera in a prologue and five acts, later reduced to four acts and an epilogue. It's the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito. The opera, which Boito based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's ‘Faust’, was given its premiere on 5 March 1868 at ‘La Scala’, Milan.

The aria ‘Son lo spirito che nega’ is sung in the 1st act by Mefistofele and captures the essence of Goethe’s Mephisto. Dutch arranger Jos van de Braak transcribed this aria for...