Program symphony by Hector Berlioz
Symphonie fantastique: Episode de la vie d'un artiste … en cinq parties
(
English
:
Fantastic Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections
)
Op.
14, is a
programmatic symphony
written by
Hector Berlioz
in 1830. The first performance was at the
Paris Conservatoire
on 5 December 1830.
Berlioz wrote semi-autobiographical
programme notes
for the piece that allude to the
romantic
sufferings of a gifted artist who has poisoned himself with
opium
because of his unrequited love for a beautiful and fascinating woman (in real life, the Shakespearean actress
Harriet Smithson
, who in 1833 became the composer's wife). The composer, who revered
Beethoven
, followed the latter's unusual addition in the
Pastoral
Symphony
of a fifth movement to the normal four of a classical symphony. The artist's reveries take him to a ball and to a pastoral scene in a field, which is interrupted by a hallucinatory march to the
scaffold
, leading to a grotesque satanic dance (
witches' sabbath
). Within each episode, the artist's passion is represented by a
recurring theme
called the
idee fixe
.
The symphony has long been a favourite with audiences and conductors. In 1831 Berlioz wrote a sequel,
Lelio
, for actor, soloists, chorus, piano and orchestra.
Overview
[
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]
The
idee fixe
theme, which recurs in various guises in each of the five movements
The
Symphonie fantastique
is a piece of
programme music
that tells the story of a gifted artist who, in the depths of hopelessness and despair because of his unrequited love for a woman, has poisoned himself with
opium
. The piece tells the story of the artist's drug-fuelled hallucinations, beginning with a ball and a scene in a field and ending with a march to the scaffold and a satanic dream. The artist's passion is represented by an elusive theme which Berlioz called the
idee fixe
, a
contemporary medical term
also found in literary works of the period.
[1]
It is defined by the
Dictionnaire de l'Academie francaise
as "an idea that keeps coming back to mind, an obsessive preoccupation".
[n 1]
Berlioz provided his own preface and
programme notes
for each movement of the work. They exist in two principal versions: one from 1845 in the first edition of the work and the second from 1855.
[3]
These changes show how Berlioz downplayed the programmatic aspect of the piece later in life.
The first printing of the score, dedicated to
Nicholas I of Russia
, was published in 1845.
[4]
In it, Berlioz writes:
[5]
The Composer's aim was to develop, in their musical aspects, different situations in the life of an artist. The plan of the instrumental drama, deprived of the aid of words, needs to be explained in advance. The following programme must therefore be considered as the spoken text of an Opera, serving to bring pieces of music the character and expression that motivates them.
George Clint
's portrait of
Harriett Smithson
, the inspiration for the symphony
In 1855 Berlioz writes:
[6]
The following programme must be distributed to the audience whenever the fantastic symphony is dramatically performed and followed, accordingly, by the monodrama of
Lelio
, which ends and completes the episode in the life of an artist. In such a case, the invisible orchestra is placed on the stage of a theatre behind the lowered curtain. If the symphony is performed in isolation in a concert, this arrangement is no longer necessary; it is even possible to dispense with distributing the programme, retaining only the title of the five movements. The symphony (the author hopes) can to offer in itself a musical interest independent of any dramatic intention.
Berlioz wanted people to understand his compositional intention, as the story he attached to each movement drove his musical choices. He said, "For this reason I generally find it extremely painful to hear my works conducted by someone other than myself."
[7]
Inspiration
[
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]
Attending a performance of
Shakespeare
's
Hamlet
on 11 September 1827, Berlioz fell in love with the Irish actress
Harriet Smithson
, who played the role of
Ophelia
. His biographer
Hugh Macdonald
writes of Berlioz's "emotional derangement" in obsessively pursuing her, without success, for several years. She refused even to meet him.
[8]
[9]
He sent her numerous
love letters
, all of which were unanswered.
[10]
The
Symphonie fantastique
reflects his obsession with Smithson. She did not attend the premiere, given at the
Paris Conservatoire
on 5 December 1830, but she heard Berlioz's revised version of the work in 1832 at a concert that also included its sequel,
Lelio
, which incorporates the same
idee fixe
and some spoken commentary.
[11]
She finally appreciated the strength of his feelings for her. The two met shortly afterwards and began a romance that led to their marriage the following year.
[12]
Instrumentation
[
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]
The
score
calls for an orchestra of about 90 players:
Movements
[
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]
Title page of the manuscript score
Following the precedent of the
Pastoral
Symphony
of
Beethoven
, whom Berlioz revered, the symphony has five
movements
, instead of four as was conventional for symphonies of the time.
[14]
- "Reveries ? Passions" (Daydreams ? passions) ?
C minor
/
C major
- "Un bal" (A ball) ?
A major
- "Scene aux champs" (Scene in the country) ?
F major
- "Marche au supplice" (March to the scaffold) ?
G minor
- "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" (Dream of a night of the sabbath) ? C minor/C major
Each movement depicts an episode in the protagonist's life that is described by Berlioz in the notes to the 1845 score. These notes are quoted (in italics) in each section below.
I. "Reveries ? Passions" (Daydreams ? passions)
[
edit
]
The author imagines that a young musician, afflicted with that emotional affliction which a famous writer
[n 3]
calls the
vague des passions
, sees for the first time a woman who unites all the charms of the ideal being of which his imagination dreamed, and he becomes madly in love with her. By a singular oddity, the cherished image never presents itself to the artist's mind except in connection with a musical idea, in which he finds a certain passionate, but noble and timid character like that which he attributes to the beloved object.
This melodic reflection and its model pursue him incessantly like a double
idee fixe
. That is the reason for the constant appearance, in all the movements of the symphony, of the melody that begins the first allegro. The passage from this state of melancholic reverie, interrupted by a few fits of unprovoked joy, to that of a delirious passion, with its movements of fury, jealousy, returns of tenderness, tears, and religious consolations, is the subject of the first movement
.
[17]
Structurally the movement derives from the traditional
sonata form
found in all classical symphonies. A long, slow introduction leads to an Allegro in which Berlioz introduces the
idee fixe
as the main theme of a sonata form comprising a short exposition followed by alternating sections of development and recapitulation.
[18]
The
idee fixe
begins:
The theme was taken from Berlioz's
scene lyrique
"Herminie"
, composed in 1828.
[19]
II. "Un bal" (A ball)
[
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]
The artist is placed in the most diverse circumstances of life, in the midst of the tumult of a festival, in the peaceful contemplation of the beauties of nature. But everywhere, in the city, in the fields, the cherished image comes to present itself to him and stirs up trouble in his soul.
[17]
The second movement is a
waltz
in
3
8
. It begins with a mysterious introduction that creates an atmosphere of impending excitement, followed by a passage dominated by two harps; then the flowing waltz theme appears, derived from the
idee fixe
at first,
[20]
then transforming it. More formal statements of the
idee fixe
twice interrupt the waltz.
The movement is the only one to feature the two harps. Another feature of the movement is that Berlioz added a part for solo cornet to his autograph score, although it was not included in the score published in his lifetime. It is believed to have been written for the virtuoso cornet player
Jean-Baptiste Arban
.
[21]
The work has most often been played and recorded without the solo cornet part.
[22]
III. "Scene aux champs" (Scene in the country)
[
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]
One evening, finding himself in the country, he hears two shepherds playing a
ranz des vaches
on their pipes. This pastoral duet, the scenery, the slight rustling of the trees gently stirred by the wind, some hopes that he has lately found reason to conceive, all conspire to restore to his heart an unaccustomed calm, to give to his ideas a more cheerful colour. He reflects on his isolation; he hopes his loneliness will soon be over. But what if she betrays him!... This mixture of hope and fear, these ideas of happiness, disturbed by some dark forebodings, form the subject of the adagio. At the end, one of the shepherds resumes the ranz des vaches; the other no longer responds. Distant sound of thunder ... solitude ... silence...
[17]
The third movement is a slow movement, marked
Adagio
, in
6
8
. The two shepherds mentioned in the programme notes are depicted by a
cor anglais
and an offstage oboe tossing an evocative melody back and forth. After the cor anglais?oboe conversation, the principal theme of the movement appears on solo flute and violins. It begins with:
Berlioz salvaged this theme from his abandoned
Messe solennelle
.
[23]
The
idee fixe
returns in the middle of the movement, played by oboe and flute. The sound of distant thunder at the end of the movement is a
striking passage
for four timpani.
[23]
IV. "Marche au supplice" (March to the scaffold)
[
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]
Having grown sure that his love is unappreciated, the artist poisons himself with opium. The dose of the narcotic, too small to kill him, plunges him into a sleep accompanied by the most horrible visions. He dreams that he has killed the one he loved, that he is condemned, that he is being led to execution, and that he is witnessing his own guillotining. The procession advances to the sounds of a march sometimes dark and fierce, sometimes brilliant and solemn, in which a muffled sound of heavy footsteps follows without transition the loudest outbursts. At the end of the march, the first four bars of the idee fixe reappear like a last thought of love interrupted by the fatal blow.
[24]
Berlioz claimed to have written the fourth movement in a single night, reconstructing music from an unfinished project, the opera
Les francs-juges
.
[23]
The movement begins with timpani
sextuplets
in thirds, for which he directs: "The first quaver of each half-bar is to be played with two drumsticks, and the other five with the right hand drumsticks". The movement proceeds as a march filled with blaring horns and rushing passages, and scurrying figures that later show up in the last movement.
Before the musical depiction of his execution, there is a brief, nostalgic recollection of the
idee fixe
in a solo clarinet part, as though representing the last conscious thought of the soon-to-be-executed man.
[24]
V. "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" (Dream of a night of the sabbath)
[
edit
]
He sees himself at a sabbath, in the middle of a horrible troop of ghosts, sorcerers, and monsters of all kinds gathered together for his funeral. Strange noises, moans, bursts of laughter, distant cries to which other cries seem to respond. The beloved melody reappears again, but it has lost its character of nobility and timidity; it is no more than a dance tune ? ignoble, trivial and grotesque; it is she who is coming to the sabbath ... Roar of joy as she arrives ... She joins in the diabolical orgy. Funeral knell, burlesque parody of the Dies irae, witches' round dance. The round and the Dies irae together
.
[24]
This movement can be divided into sections according to tempo changes:
- The introduction is Largo, in
common time
, creating an ominous quality through the copious use of
diminished seventh chords
[25]
dynamic variations and instrumental effects, particularly in the strings (
tremolos
,
pizzicato
,
sforzando
).
- At bar 21, the tempo changes to Allegro and the metre to
6
8
. The return of the
idee fixe
as a "vulgar dance tune" is depicted by the B
♭
clarinet. This is interrupted by an Allegro Assai section in
cut time
at bar 29.
- The
idee fixe
then returns as a prominent
E
♭
clarinet
solo at bar 40, in
6
8
and Allegro. The E
♭
clarinet contributes a brighter timbre than the B
♭
clarinet.
- At bar 80, there is one bar of
alla breve
, with descending crotchets in unison through the entire orchestra. Again in
6
8
, this section sees the introduction of the bells (or Piano playing in Triple Octaves) and fragments of the "witches' round dance".
- The "
Dies irae
" begins at bar 127, the
motif
derived from the 13th-century Latin
sequence
. It is initially stated in unison between the unusual combination of four bassoons and two ophicleides. The key, C minor, allows the bassoons to render the theme at the bottom of their range.
- At bar 222, the "witches' round dance" motif is repeatedly stated in the strings, to be interrupted by three syncopated notes in the brass. This leads into the
Ronde du Sabbat
(Sabbath Round) at bar 241, where the motif is finally expressed in full.
- The Dies irae et Ronde du Sabbat Ensemble section is at bar 414.
There are a host of effects, including trilling in the woodwinds and
col legno
in the strings. The climactic finale combines the somber Dies Irae melody, now in A minor, with the fugue of the
Ronde du Sabbat
, building to a modulation into E
♭
major, then chromatically into C major, ending on a C chord.
Reception
[
edit
]
The opening page of Berlioz's autograph manuscript score
At the premiere of the
Symphonie fantastique
, there was protracted applause at the end, and the press reviews expressed both the shock and the pleasure the work had given.
[26]
There were dissenting voices, such as that of
Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl
, the conservative author of the
Musikalische Charakterkopfe
, who regarded the work as an abomination for which Berlioz would suffer in
Purgatory
,
[27]
but despite the striking unconventionality of the work, it was generally well received.
Francois-Joseph Fetis
, founder of the influential
Revue musicale
wrote of it approvingly,
[28]
and
Robert Schumann
published an extensive, and broadly supportive analysis of the piece in the
Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik
in 1835.
[27]
He had reservations about "wild and bizarre" elements and some of the harmonies,
[29]
but concluded: "in spite of an apparent formlessness, there is an inherent correct symmetrical order corresponding to the great dimensions of the work ? and this besides the inner connection of thought".
[30]
When the work was played in New York in 1865 critical opinion was divided: "We think the Philharmonic Society wasted much valuable time in the vain endeavor to make Berlioz's fantastic ravings intelligible to a sane audience" (
New York Tribune
); a rare treat, "a wonderful creation" (
New York Daily Herald
).
[31]
By the middle of the 20th century the authors of
The Record Guide
, calling the work "one of the most remarkable outbursts of genius in the history of music", commented that it was a favourite with the public and with great conductors.
[32]
Opinions differed about how much the symphony fitted the classical symphonic model.
Sir Thomas Beecham
, a lifelong proponent of Berlioz's music, remarked on the originality of the work, which "broke upon the world like some unaccountable effort of spontaneous generation which had dispensed with the machinery of normal parentage".
[33]
A later conductor,
Leonard Bernstein
, said of the hallucinatory aspects of the work: "Berlioz tells it like it is ... You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral. Take a tip from Berlioz: that music is all you need for the wildest trip you can take, to hell and back."
[34]
Others regard the work as more recognisably classical:
Constant Lambert
wrote of the symphony, "formally speaking it is among the finest of nineteenth century symphonies".
[35]
The composer and musical scholar
Wilfrid Mellers
called the symphony "ostensibly autobiographical, yet fundamentally classical ... Far from being romantic rhapsodizing held together only by an outmoded literary commentary, the
Symphonie fantastique
is one of the most tautly disciplined works in early nineteenth-century music."
[36]
Notes, references and sources
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
idee qui revient sans cesse a l'esprit, preoccupation obsedante
.
[2]
- ^
Modern performances commonly use
tubas
. Berlioz originally wrote for one
serpent
and one ophicleide, but switched to two of the latter.
[13]
- ^
Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand
, whose phrase
vague des passions
, variously translated as "wave of passions" or "intimation of passions", signifies "a quintessentially Romantic form of melancholy in which an imagination feeds on its own desires",
[15]
"all that is indeterminate, not fixed on a concrete object, in human emotions.
[16]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Brittan, Francesca (2006).
"Berlioz and the Pathological Fantastic: Melancholy, Monomania, and Romantic Autobiography"
.
19th-Century Music
.
29
(3): 211?239.
doi
:
10.1525/ncm.2006.29.3.211
.
- ^
"fixe"
,
Dictionnaire de l'Academie francaise
. Retrieved 20 February 2024
- ^
Cone, pp. 20 and 30
- ^
Macdonald, p. 46
- ^
Cone, p. 20; translation via Microsoft and Google
- ^
Cone, p. 30; translation via Microsoft and Google
- ^
O'Neal, p. 119
- ^
Bickley, Diana.
"Berlioz, Louis Hector"
,
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
, Oxford University Press, 2004
(subscription or
UK public library membership
required)
- ^
Macdonald, Hugh.
"Berlioz, (Louis-)Hector"
,
Grove Music Online
, Oxford University Press, 2001
(subscription required)
- ^
Holoman (1989), p. 54
- ^
Holoman (1989), p. 134
- ^
Holoman (1989), pp. 136?137 and 151
- ^
Bloom, p. 272
- ^
Cairns, p. 212
- ^
Rodgers, p. 87
- ^
Smethurst, p. 31
- ^
a
b
c
Cone, p. 22; translation via Microsoft and Google
- ^
Langford, p. 34
- ^
Steinberg, p. 64
- ^
"Hector Berlioz ? Discussion on
Symphonie fantastique
"
. ugcs.caltech.edu. Archived from
the original
on 2015-11-26.
- ^
Holoman (2000), p. 177
- ^
The Hector Berlioz Website: Berlioz Music Scores
. Retrieved 26 July 2014
- ^
a
b
c
Steinberg, p. 65
- ^
a
b
c
Cone, p. 24; translation via Microsoft and Google
- ^
Hovland, E. (2019, p20) “Who's afraid of Berlioz?”
Studia Musicologica Norvegica
. Vol 45, No. 1, pp9-30.
- ^
Barzun, p. 107
- ^
a
b
Niecks, p. 273
- ^
Macdonald, p. 243
- ^
Schumann, p. 173
- ^
Schumann, p. 168
- ^
"Musical",
New York Tribune
, 29 January 1866, p. 5; and "Musical",
New York Daily Herald
, 31 December 1865, p. 4
- ^
Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, p. 120
- ^
Beecham, p. 183
- ^
Bernstein, p. 337
- ^
Lambert, p. 144
- ^
Mellers, p. 187
Sources
[
edit
]
- Barzun, Jacques
(1956) [1950].
Berlioz and His Century: An Introduction to the Age of Romanticism
(2nd ed.). New York: Meridian Books.
OCLC
458648636
.
- Beecham, Thomas
(1959) [1943].
A Mingled Chime
. London: Hutchinson.
OCLC
470511334
.
- Bernstein, Leonard
(1992).
Young People's Concerts
. New York: Anchor Books.
ISBN
978-0-38-542435-6
.
- Cairns, David
(1969). "Hector Berlioz". In
Robert Simpson
(ed.).
The Symphony: 1 ? Haydn to Dvo?ak
. London: Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-020772-9
.
- Cone, Edward T.
(1971).
Hector Berlioz: Fantastic Symphony
. New York: Norton.
OCLC
1150211779
.
- Holoman, D. Kern
(1989).
Berlioz
. London: Faber and Faber.
ISBN
978-0-571-14235-4
.
- Holoman, D. Kern (2000).
"Performing Berlioz"
. In Peter Bloom (ed.).
The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz
. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-52-159388-5
.
- Lambert, Constant
(1966).
Music Ho! A Study of Music in Decline
(third ed.). London: Faber.
OCLC
4243993
.
- Langford, Jeffrey (2000). "The Symphonies". In Peter Bloom (ed.).
The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz
. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-52-159388-5
.
- Macdonald, Hugh
(1982).
Berlioz
. London: J. M. Dent.
ISBN
978-0-46-003156-1
.
- Mellers, Wilfrid
(1957).
The Sonata Principle
. London: Rockliff.
OCLC
2098112
.
- Niecks, Frederick
(June 1880).
"Hector Berlioz and His Critics"
.
The Musical Times
.
21
(448): 272?274.
doi
:
10.2307/3355690
.
JSTOR
3355690
.
- O'Neal, Melinda (2019).
Experiencing Berlioz: A Listener's Companion
. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN
978-0-8108-8606-3
.
- Rodgers, Stephen (2009).
Form, Program, and Metaphor in the Music of Berlioz
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-52-188404-4
.
- Sackville-West, Edward
;
Desmond Shawe-Taylor
(1955).
The Record Guide
. London: Collins.
OCLC
500373060
.
- Schumann, Robert
(1947).
On Music and Musicians
. London: Dennis Dobson.
OCLC
6503404
.
- Smethurst, Colin (1995).
Chateaubriand: Atala and Rene
. London: Grant & Cutler.
ISBN
978-0-72-930384-2
.
- Steinberg, Michael
(1995).
The Symphony: A Listener's Guide
. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-506177-2
.
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