Symphonie fantastique notes - Intro Music History PDF

Preview

Summary

Complete notes of lecture on Symphonie Fantastique...

Description

I. Introduction A. The Fantastic Symphony (Symphonie fantastique) 1. Had its premiere in 1830 and is now a part of the standard performing repertory 2. An example of program music, the symphony tells a story 3. Berlioz distributed a printed program explaining the story to the first audience 4. The narrative is characteristically Romantic in centering on a creative artist, interiority, the supernatural, and romantic love 5. Considered avant-garde at the time and today remains shockingly modern, particularly in its treatment of sound II. The Setting: Paris in 1830 A. Paris 1. Large metropolis and cultural center 2. Fifteen years after the restoration of the monarchy in 1815 (following the Napoleonic wars), the July Revolution removed Charles X from the throne and replaced him with Louis-Philippe, the “citizen king” 3. Crowded, congested living conditions, with largely unpaved and badly lit streets 4. Parisians were passionate about classical drama (at the Comédie Française) and opera (at the Opéra, or Royal Academy of Music) 5. The preferred form of opera was grand opera, with historical plots and spectacular settings 6. Lighter opera was presented at the Opéra-Comique and the Italian Opera 7. Berlioz studied at the Paris Conservatory, headed in 1830 by Luigi Cherubini and one of the first public music schools in the world 8. Berlioz’s treatise on orchestration was later used at the conservatory 9. François-Antoine Habeneck, the conductor of the Opéra and a Conservatory professor, founded a series of afternoon orchestral concerts at the Conservatory (the orchestra was the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, one of the first concert orchestras in the world) B. Romanticism 1. Literary and artistic movement seeking to break out of rule-bound traditions 2. Victor Hugo’s play Hernani (1830) was a defining Romantic work in its rejection of classical conventions, depiction of emotion, and use of everyday language; controversial among audience members, it was defended by Berlioz and others 3. Romantic artists and writers were interested in nature and exotic lands and eras 4. Concern with the past led to the revival of interest in Gothic cathedrals and their restoration

5. 6. 7.

C. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1.

a. b.

c.

Interest in the supernatural and spectacular, represented by ghosts, demons, bats, lightning, and thunder Deeply engaged with feelings, passions, and the soul The subject of the Fantastic Symphony is quintessentially Romantic in drawing together the themes of nature, the supernatural, religion, and drugs Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) Came to Paris in the early 1820s as a medical student but was determined to become a musician, despite his father’s opposition His music is marked by experimental, even avant-garde qualities Also worked as a conductor and music critic, from which he earned most of his income for several years By nature a dramatic composer, strongly influenced by literature and Shakespeare’s plays Important works include Harold in Italy, Romeo and Juliet, and the operas The Trojans, Beatrice and Benedict, and Benvenuto Cellini Autobiographical nature of the Fantastic Symphony The work deals with the sufferings of a Romantic artist like Berlioz himself 2. One melody from the first movement is drawn from a song he wrote after parting from a childhood love, Estelle Duboeuf (Berlioz engaged in a correspondence with her at the end of his life) 3. Inspired more immediately by his infatuation with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who performed as Ophelia and Juliet in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet in Paris in the late 1820s 4. Berlioz had a brief affair with the eighteen-year-old Camille Moke, who relayed rumors that turned Berlioz away from Smithson, thus prompting the torment underlying the symphony’s narrative 5. After the premiere, Berlioz was jilted by Camille; he married Harriet in 1833, but the marriage was largely unhappy B. Program Music The five movements of the Fantastic Symphony can stand on their own, comparable to a four-movement symphony of Beethoven The narrative was communicated to the audience through a printed program; the audience was asked to consider the program as if it were “the spoken text of an opera” Basic plot: the artist falls in love with a young woman, sees her at a ball, and thinks of her while alone in the countryside; after realizing she doesn’t love him, he poisons himself with opium; rather than dying, he hallucinates that he has killed her and is executed; the work culminates in a witches’ sabbath

d. The music depicts both external events (nature, church bells) and internal feelings e. Program music is often contrasted with “absolute” music, yet the boundaries are not rigidly fixed II. The Performance A. Preparations a. Berlioz rehearsed several movements at the Théâtre des Nouveautés, but it was a fiasco due to insufficient chairs and music stands as well as other problems b. He won the Prix de Rome (on his fourth attempt) for his cantata La mort de Sardanapale (The Death of Sardanapalus), written during the July Revolution c. He used the prize money to arrange the performance of the Fantastic Symphony and other works at the Paris Conservatory d. The concert hall at the Conservatory could seat around a thousand listeners and had excellent acoustics e. Orchestra arranged on four tiers, with brass and percussion at the very back f. The Conservatory orchestra was made up of professionals and was of outstanding quality B. Instruments a. Expanded version of the Beethovenian orchestra b. Additional instruments 1. Four bassoons 2. English horn (tenor oboe), playing the shepherd’s call in dialogue with the oboe in the slow movement 3. Large brass section, with two piston trumpets, four French horns, three trombones, and an ophicleide (low brass instrument, invented in France in 1817) 4. Serpent (bass instrument related to the cornetto) used in churches to accompany chant; in the Fantastic Symphony it plays the Dies irae chant in the fifth movement to evoke funeral music 5. E-flat clarinet, with its squeaky timbre, used to depict the diabolical transformation of the theme 6. Violins use mutes when they play the “Estelle” melody B. The Conductor a. François-Antoine Habeneck (1781–1849) b. Taught violin at the Conservatory and conducted its orchestra c. Built the orchestra into one of the finest of its time d. Introduced Beethoven’s symphonies to Parisian audiences e. Often conducted from the first violin part alone, given his excellent memory, and was known for his demanding personality at the podium, shaming musicians when they made mistakes C. The Press and the Audience

a. Berlioz made use of the press to generate interest in the work and announced that proceeds would benefit those wounded in the July Revolution b. Invited King Louis-Philippe; he did not attend, but the royal treasury gave Berlioz three hundred francs c. Newspaper notices emphasized the novelty of programmatic music; François-Joseph Fétis criticized this aspect of the work and later became an opponent of Berlioz’s music d. In response to Fétis’s criticism, Berlioz added an explanatory footnote to the program in self-defense D. Details of the Premiere a. Concert began precisely at 2 P.M. on Sunday, December 5 b. Concert closed with the Fantastic Symphony and included other works by Berlioz and a violin solo by another composer (Joseph Mayseder); unusual in that all of the music was contemporary c. Among the audience in the hall were the operatic composers Gaspare Spontini and Giacomo Meyerbeer, the pianist Franz Liszt (whom Berlioz had met the day before), and Camille Moke and her mother d. Harriet Smithson was not in attendance, as she was playing a mute role in Auber’s Muette de Portici at the Opéra e. The audience called for an encore of the “March to the Scaffold” f. A reviewer in Le Temps commented on Berlioz’s unusual appearance and frenetic activity at the premiere E. The Music: Style and Techniques a. The published version of the work dates from nearly fifteen years after the premiere, and the earliest surviving source is a revision Berlioz brought back from Italy in 1832 b. Berlioz admired Beethoven’s music c. Structure of the work is symmetrical, with fast outer movements, a slow middle movement, and two lighter, dancelike and action-based movements (waltz and march) flanking the middle movement d. Narrative structure in two parts: the first part (movements I, II, and III) are in real time, and the second part (movements IV, V) depict drug-induced hallucinations e. The device of the idée fixe (“fixed idea,” a recurring theme associated with the image of the beloved) unifies the movements through thematic recall 1. A “double” idée fixe in that the artist is obsessed with one object and the audience is fixed on one melody 2. The melody has four phrases: the first two form a question-answer pair (antecedent and consequent), each beginning in disjunct motion and ending in conjunct motion; the third is sequential and yearning in character; the fourth begins in disjunct motion and ends in conjunct motion, like the first two phrases

3.

The idée fixe is used throughout the work in moments that are significant both in terms of musical structure and the narrative, although it is integral only to the first movement b. The work includes musical borrowings: the theme of the “Scene in the Country” comes from Berlioz’s own Solemn Mass (Messe solennelle), and the idée fixe is drawn from an earlier cantata c. Musical borrowing, common before the mid-nineteenth century, raises a question about musical narrativity: how can music from one piece be transferred to another piece and tell a new story? II. Listening to the Music A. First movement: “Reveries—Passions” a. Meditative slow introduction, with the “Estelle” melody first played by the muted violins b. Main part of the movement begins in a faster tempo with the idée fixe c. Second theme is a transformation of part of the idée fixe d. Development includes an oboe solo added after the premiere e. Movements ends quietly, with long slow chords; the hero experiences “religious consolations” B. Second Movement: “A Ball” a. Waltz with four harps b. The waltz was a dance craze in 1830 and was considered to be racy and dangerous, due to its spinning and potentially provocative steps C. Third Movement: “Scene in the Country” a. Very long slow movement, set in the countryside b. Introduction consists of two shepherds playing pipes in dialogue; in the coda, the first shepherd is answered by thunder in the timpani c. Principal section is a set of variations on a theme drawn from the Solemn Mass d. Hero’s internal doubts depicted through instrumental recitative D. Fourth Movement: “March to the Scaffold” a. Poisoned with opium, the hero imagines he has murdered his beloved; after being led to the scaffold, he is executed by the guillotine b. Brilliant orchestration c. The hero’s “thought of love” at the last minute, before the blade falls, is depicted by a fragment of theidée fixe E. Fifth Movement: “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath” a. Diabolical character, with a sinister transformation of the idée fixe b. After church bells sound, the Gregorian chant for the funeral service (the Dies irae) is intoned by the serpent and transformed into a dance c. The witches’ dance is depicted through a brisk fugue combined at its climax with the Dies irae II. How Did It Go? A. Modest press judgment, with divided opinion concerning Berlioz’s abilities

B. Most press criticism focused on the program and the idea of program music rather than the performance itself C. Fétis in particular attacked the work in a review published several years later D. Berlioz described the performance as “a great success” E. Each movement was applauded, and there was an ovation after the “March to the Scaffold” II. The Fantastic Symphony Then and Now A. Novel aspects of the premiere include the idea of an evening of music organized by one composer and the concept of a programmatic instrumental work B. The work is striking for its element of fantasy, emerging out of the imagination of a single mind C. The work was at once new and familiar, transforming traditional elements such as the symphony, fugue, march, and the waltz into something personal and innovative D. The work is linked in conception to Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, subtitled “Scenes of Country Life,” which depicted nature and human experience through instrumental music E. Berlioz composed a sequel, Lélio, which describes the artist’s “return to life” F. Further programmatic works include Harold in Italy and Romeo and Juliet G. Robert Schumann reviewed the work in 1835 (through Liszt’s piano transcription) H. Gustav Mahler would define the genre of the symphony as being “like the world; it must be all-embracing” I. Berlioz extended Beethoven’s conception of the symphony as the expression of lofty thoughts and emotions to encompass private emotions: the symphony refashioned as autobiography...