24-25 Program Book - Flipbook - Page 82
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 (1830)
HECTOR BERLIOZ
(December 11, 1803-March 8, 1869)
Hector Berlioz was one of the most influential and
progressive French composers of the first half of the
19th century. Perhaps his most important work is
Symphonie fantastique. It is one of the first large-scale
works to use valved brass instruments, and other
instrument sections were also expanded to create a
wide color palette, one of the most ambitious nonopera scores to this point. It is also a significant step
forward in program music—the written storyline that
accompanies the piece gives listeners a common
image, but leaves them to their own imaginations for
details and inspirations as the piece unfolds.
Berlioz was enamored of Irish singer Harriet Smithson at the time, and the
plot of this symphony is really the self-centered fantasies of the composer’s
unrequited love. It tells a dramatic story of a lover who has found his Beloved, who
unfortunately will not return his love. In despair, he tries to poison himself with
opium but does not take enough to finish the job. The resulting five hallucinations
(i.e., movements) include a recurring melody (idée fixe) that represents his love
and a series of scenes that describe his feelings for her. In “Dreams, Passions,”
he reflects on what life was like before he met her and recalls the awakening of
feelings, the elation, the ardent love, and the rabid jealousy he felt after they met.
In “A Ball,” he meets her again at a dance, and the same emotions are felt again
in a different context. In “Scene in the Meadows,” he hears herdsmen playing a
plaintive melody on their pipes and is calmed, but then she re-appears, reminding
him of the pain he feels. The plaintive song returns and fades into the sunset as
thunder rolls in the distance. In “March to the Scaffold,” the lover is marched to his
own execution, condemned to death for having killed his Beloved. A final thought
of his love is cut short with his beheading. Finally, in the “Dream of a Witches’
Sabbath,” he dreams that a collection of ghoulish characters have gathered for his
own funeral. To his surprise and horror, his Beloved arrives and joins the dance; the
idée fixe becomes a grotesque dance melody. Eventually, the bell tolls for him and
the Dies Irae death chant signals that eternal end is near. A final dance combines
the Beloved melody and the Dies Irae as the work comes to a diabolical close.
Berlioz eventually married and then divorced Smithson, the latter of which is
somewhat surprising considering the lengths to which he went to win her favor.
It is perhaps more surprising, however, that Symphonie fantastique appeared only
three years after Beethoven’s death. What makes Berlioz’s work significant is not
the individual parts, but the whole; the combination of elements was new, and
symphonic music was never the same—Strauss, Wagner, Liszt, among others, pay
tribute to Berlioz and this piece as an influence on their music.
82 CLASSICAL SERIES FRENCH CONNECTIONS WITH BRANFORD MARSALIS
