Symphonie fantastique

Symphonie fantastique: Épisode 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.

Symphonie fantastique

Romantic music

1830

Nicholas I of Russia

About 50 minutes

Five

5 December 1830 (1830-12-05)

Paris

François Habeneck

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 idée fixe.

The symphony has long been a favourite with audiences and conductors. In 1831 Berlioz wrote a sequel, Lélio, for actor, soloists, chorus, piano and orchestra.

The introduction is Largo, in , 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).

common time

At bar 21, the tempo changes to Allegro and the metre to ⁶
₈. The return of the idée fixe as a "vulgar dance tune" is depicted by the B♭ clarinet. This is interrupted by an Allegro Assai section in at bar 29.

cut time

The idée fixe then returns as a prominent solo at bar 40, in ⁶
₈ and Allegro. The E♭ clarinet contributes a brighter timbre than the B♭ clarinet.

E♭ clarinet

At bar 80, there is one bar of , 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".

alla breve

The "" 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.

Dies irae

(1956) [1950]. Berlioz and His Century: An Introduction to the Age of Romanticism (2nd ed.). New York: Meridian Books. OCLC 458648636.

Barzun, Jacques

(1959) [1943]. A Mingled Chime. London: Hutchinson. OCLC 470511334.

Beecham, Thomas

(1992). Young People's Concerts. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0-38-542435-6.

Bernstein, Leonard

(1969). "Hector Berlioz". In Robert Simpson (ed.). The Symphony: 1 – Haydn to Dvořák. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-020772-9.

Cairns, David

(1971). Hector Berlioz: Fantastic Symphony. New York: Norton. OCLC 1150211779.

Cone, Edward T.

(1989). Berlioz. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-14235-4.

Holoman, D. Kern

Holoman, D. Kern (2000). "Performing Berlioz". In Peter Bloom (ed.). . New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52-159388-5.

The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz

(1966). Music Ho! A Study of Music in Decline (third ed.). London: Faber. OCLC 4243993.

Lambert, Constant

Langford, Jeffrey (2000). "The Symphonies". In Peter Bloom (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz. New York: Cambridge University Press. 978-0-52-159388-5.

ISBN

(1982). Berlioz. London: J. M. Dent. ISBN 978-0-46-003156-1.

Macdonald, Hugh

(1957). The Sonata Principle. London: Rockliff. OCLC 2098112.

Mellers, Wilfrid

(June 1880). "Hector Berlioz and His Critics". The Musical Times: 272–274.

Niecks, Frederick

O'Neal, Melinda (2019). Experiencing Berlioz: A Listener's Companion. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. 978-0-8108-8606-3.

ISBN

Rodgers, Stephen (2009). Form, Program, and Metaphor in the Music of Berlioz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 978-0-52-188404-4.

ISBN

; Desmond Shawe-Taylor (1955). The Record Guide. London: Collins. OCLC 500373060.

Sackville-West, Edward

(1947). On Music and Musicians. London: Dennis Dobson. OCLC 6503404.

Schumann, Robert

Smethurst, Colin (1995). Chateaubriand: Atala and René. London: Grant & Cutler. 978-0-72-930384-2.

ISBN

(1995). The Symphony: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-506177-2.

Steinberg, Michael

with links to Scorch full score and programme note written by the composer.

Symphonie fantastique on the Hector Berlioz Website

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

Symphonie fantastique

multimedia website with interactive score produced by the San Francisco Symphony

Keeping Score: Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

. A copyright-free LP recording of the Symphonie fantastique by Willem van Otterloo (conductor) and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra at the European Archive

European Archive

. A concert-hall dramatized documentary and performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Beyond the Score

performed by the Cleveland Orchestra, Artur Rodzinski conducting

Symphonie fantastique at the Internet Archive

of the symphony's programme

Symphonie fantastique