2. “radical” “weird” “revolutionary” “Passionate” “ambitous” “obsessed”
“unprecedented”
“hallucinogenic”
“radical”
“ambitous”
“weird”
“jaw-dropping”
“delirious”

3. Berlioz the composer A French romantic composer
Compositions reflect his deeply emotional nature and his passion for life and love
Innovative.
Flexible approach to form and structure.
Aware of possibilities of drama and expression.
A leading authority in orchestration, tone-colours and timbre.
It is relevant and important to place Berlioz historically, geographically and musically French, born in 1803, right at start of Romantic influence in Europe and particularly in France. His ‘time & place’ is hugely significant in his music. There is a second dimension – the personal one - how
does his personality emerge in his music? Evident in the passion and contrasts that are evident in these two movements. Compare it to the Mozart – wouldn’t we agree that Berlioz is more passionate. Compare the sense of glory in the march theme with the despair and loneliness of the Idee fixe in movement 4.

4. Features of Romanticism
Emotionalism
Self-Expression
Individuality
Nationalism
Programme Music
Large orchestra
Expanded forms, dynamic ranges etc
Discuss the features and characteristics of Romanticism above – explain.
Look at how these are evident in Berlioz music, and examine how he himself extended Romantic boundaries even further through his mastery of orchestration, his linking of movements by a recurring theme, his use of programme and the 5-movement form.

5. The Symphony Grew out of fast-slow-fast Italian overture.
Established as a 4-movement form in Classical period by composers such as Haydn & Mozart.
Expanded further by Beethoven, becoming dramatic & expressive.
Developed in the Romantic period into the programme symphony, often with 5 movements.
Explain.

6. Symphonie Fantastique
5 movements
Programmatic
Innovative
Each movement titled and telling story of Berlioz’ dreams with regard to his infatuation with Harriet Smithson.
Movements are threaded together by the idee fixe - a recurring theme representing Harriet.
You should be familiar with this theme, not only in the two prescribed movements but as it appears throughout the work as a whole. There is no better way to hear his creative orchestration, his ability to create drama, tension, mood etc.

7. The Programme
The story is a window which invites the listener into the work.
Be familiar with the images Berlioz is portraying in each movement.
Be able to visualise the images in the music
This leads to easier examination and analysis of the required movements.
To know this work effectively, you do need to know the Programme.

8. Orchestration
Candidates may well hear some resonances of Beethoven, whose music Berlioz admired greatly.
The younger man’s own originality, however, lay very much in the field of orchestration, in which he was extremely innovative. He called for an extraordinarily large orchestra and scored very precisely to achieve exactly the effects he wanted.

9. Film music composers often use leitmotifs to help build a sense of continuity. A leitmotif is a recurring musical idea (a melody, chord sequence, rhythm or a combination of these) which is associated with a particular idea, character or place.
Famous Movie Leitmotifs

10. Berlioz’s Idée fixe Notion arose in France in the early 1800s
In Music traceable to Berlioz’s Symphonie Fatastique
Unlike most symphonies of the time, whose movements were built from distinct themes, the Symphonie Fatastique was marked by a persistent theme – the Idée fixe, which surfaced in various forms in all five movements of the work
Watch videos

11. Seeing how Berlioz treats his theme throughout the symphony can help us unravel just what he thought of her.
Listen to the theme as it first appears. How does it first characterize Harriet?
How does the music describe the anticipation that ‘Berlioz’ feels upon seeing her?

12. Movement I First Movement - Reveries, Passions
The Young Lover - a musician sees his dream girl for the very first time. It is here that the idee fixe is first heard in flutes and violins. However the recurrent theme is often doubled or manipulated to create a traumatic mood. the piece begins with a dreamy state the goes into furry to express jealousy and torment of not meeting his beloved and the back to dreamy.

13. Symphonie Fantastique

14. Symphonie Fantastique
In contrast to the strong narratives of the two operas, the music of these three movements represents a composer’s imagination – memories, longings, dreams (and nightmares).
The ‘artist’ in the symphony’s subtitle, ‘Episode in the life of an artist’, is a musician, and it is not over-fanciful to interpret this figure as Berlioz himself.

15. Movement II: Un bal
The composer’s programme describes a ball at which he catches sight of his beloved. ‘The artist finds himself in the most varied situations – in the midst of the tumult of a party, in the peaceful contemplation of the beauties of nature; but everywhere, in town, in the country, the beloved image appears before him and disturbs his mind’

16. Movement II: Un bal Introduction 0:00-0:43
Before the ball gets under way, an anticipatory mood is suggested. What sort of ‘anticipation’?
How do we hear it? Something ‘grows’ – is it only the excitement and bustle of people arriving for a party? Or perhaps the composer’s own emotions? Both? How does it grow?

17. Movement II: Un bal Principal waltz theme
Dynamics: there is a sustained crescendo from the beginning pp to ff
Key: it begins in the tonic minor mode shifting harmonies constantly until the ff tonic major chord ‘lights up’ the scene at bar 30
Rising pitch: the ascending arpeggio figure played by cellos and basses moves steadily upwards in a sequence (two harps echo this in shorter note values)
Texture: trembling upper strings (tremolo) throughout until bar 32, - tutti (i.e. including full woodwind and brass – there is no percussion in this movement) at bar 30 to emphasize the end
The punctuating perfect cadence that announces the start of the dance (the curtain goes up on a glittering scene?)

18. Movement II: Un bal
The movement is a brisk waltz (valse) of the sort that was fashionable in nineteenth-century Paris
In triple time, its principal theme has, when first heard, a conventional ‘oom-pah-pah’ accompaniment
Based on a single extended theme which sub-divides into 3 distinct parts.
Includes two appearances of the Idée Fixe

19. Structure of Un Bal Task - Identify the main markers of this movement
Listen out for the different sections and write down their timings
Locate the entrances of the idee fix and the waltz theme
Describe what is happening in each section in terms of orchestration (melody and accompaniment), texture, dynamics, tempo

20. Section Timing Musical Features Introduction 0:00
Crescendo pp to ff, Rising pitch: the ascending arpeggio figure played by cellos and basses moves steadily upwards in a sequence , key change from minor to major at the climax Texture: trembling upper strings (tremolo) and then Tutti to emphasize the ending with a perfect cadence. Shimmering strings
Harps play glissando becoming more frequent and louder
Principal waltz theme
0:43
Part 1, 0:43 Part 2, 1:05 Part 3 1:18. Each theme is immediately preceded by it’s own 2-bar introduction – these intro’s are a feature of this movement.. In 3/8 time. Starts with strings only with a slight slow down at 0:56. Oom pah pah accompaniment. Theme is followed by ascending figures in flutes and clarinets then followed by descending passages in the strings
Principal waltz theme repeated
1.47
As the theme repeats, and continues into new figures the texture builds up: , woodwind join in and the string texture becomes more complex. The momentum increases (no slowing down this time) A sudden moment of shock, dynamic change and descending strings leads us into…
Idée fixe
2:17
Combined with the waltz theme. Melody played by solo flute and oboe In 3/8 time. The yearning figure is played higher and higher until it dies away. A ‘fleeting vision’ of her in the tumult of the ball
Waltz Theme
3:20
It becomes more richly orchestrated and more dynamic and animated as the tempo increases. Triplet in the clarinet and flute pattern modified and joined by the cornet. The music builds as if it was going to end but then…
5:32
This time on it’s own played by solo clarinet without the waltz accompaniment. Much shorter version. Perhaps the beloved is in full view of the artist and so the theme is played in a purer version?
Coda
6:03
A whirling rush ends the music. The dancers spin faster and faster. Might this wild excitement also reflect the faster beating of the composer’s own heart as his passion increases? The artist is left alone amongst the swirling of the festivities
Summary of form – notice symmetrical shape – very simply constructed!
Students should be made aware of the differences in scoring, mood and performance of the two appearances of I.F. in the movement
The feature of the small intro’s to individual sections of the theme is an important feature of this work
Also point out the sigh – motif, and idea taken from the opening movement of the work – which appears in both themes 1 & 2 and is characterised by a long note falling to a note of shorter value, as if one is sighing.

21. Movement II: Un bal Principal waltz theme
An understated beginning: strings only, quietly; a swirling theme, almost classically balanced in its phrasing; a slight (lingering?) slowing down at bars 49–50.
As the theme repeats, and continues into new figures the texture builds up: harps return at bar 54, woodwind join in at bar 62.
The momentum increases (no slowing down the second time at bars 105–6), the string texture becomes more complex (cellos imitating 1st violins at two beats’ distance from bar 78 onwards).

22. Movement II: Un bal Principal waltz theme
The ‘oom-pah-pah’ is shared between harps and woodwind from bar 94, giving an off-beat or slightly less stable feel (as though the dancers are becoming less restrained, more animated, up on their toes, perhaps?).
Candidates might be encouraged to listen carefully to subsequent appearances of this theme, noting other similarities and differences in the scoring,
e.g. at bar 175 it is doubled an octave lower by violas, enriching the tone colour of the strings; it is taken up by the woodwind at bar 233 and, by bar 253, woodwind and 1st violins are playing it an octave higher.

23. Movement II: Un bal Coda
The second sighting of the beloved interrupts a long tutti passage that had, from bar 256 onwards, where Berlioz instructs ‘animez’, sounded increasingly like a grand closing section for the dance. After the second appearance of the idée fixe the pace resumes more steadily at the original tempo, but con fuoco; after eighteen bars, Berlioz again says ‘animez’, then, after the next sixteen, ‘serrez’ (meaning ‘push on even more’). The scoring is also very full and busy. Can candidates hear the horns’ descending scale in bars 338–345? Spurred on by the frantic opening figure of the waltz theme, now in perpetual motion and rising in pitch from bar 338, the dancers spin faster and faster. Might this wild excitement also reflect the faster beating of the composer’s own heart as his passion increases?

24. Movement III: Scène aux champs – Scene in the fields
Musical heart of the symphony (5 movements)
The pivotal point in the whole drama
Set in reality like the other movements – this time in the countryside. The artist is relaxed and calm
He hears two piping shepherds across a vast alpine valley

25. Scene in the fields
The use of English horn and oboe give the movement a pastoral feel. The lover is in a field (represents Berlioz when he use to visit his grandparents). He hears shepards in the background piping a beautiful melody. He dreams of his beloved. The idee fixe is heard several times however, the pastoral feel is lost when the timpani beings signifying a thunder storm. It starts of softly demonstrating that the storm is far away but the music gets louder representing the storm moving closer and closer.

26. Movement III: Scène aux champs – Scene in the fields
Watch the first 7 minutes of the YouTube clip of the analysis of Movement III
What musical devices does Berlioz use to
give the feeling that the story is now set in the countryside and the sense of space and perspective that exists?
depict the two shepherds piping?

27. Movement III: Scène aux champs – Scene in the fields
Call and response between cor anglais and off-stage oboe represents two piping shepherds communicating across an alpine valley
What might the strange viola tremolos suggest?
Peaceful mood and feeling of space created (especially by the use of the off-stage oboe) which creates a sense of distance
Use of F major (a key which reflects calm and tranquility
Slow tempo - Adagio
The quiet, reflective mood lends itself to the suggestion that the composer is relaxed and daydreaming.
‘Yearning’ quality of the pastoral theme repeated higher at and :38 before eventually falling away
Birdsong at 6: evokes the country setting

28. Program Notes – Movement 3
Finding himself one evening in the country, he hears in the distance two shepherds piping a ranz des vaches in dialogue. This pastoral duet, the scenery, the quiet rustling of the trees gently brushed by the wind, the hopes he has recently found some reason to entertain—all concur in affording his heart an unaccustomed calm, and in giving a more cheerful color to his ideas. He reflects upon his isolation: he hopes that his loneliness will soon be over. — But what if she were deceiving him!—This mingling of hope and fear, these ideas of happiness disturbed by black presentiments, form the subject of the Adagio. At the end one of the shepherds again takes up the ranz des vaches: the other no longer replies.—Distant sound of thunder—loneliness—silence.
A Ranz des Vaches or Kuhreihen is a simple melody traditionally played on the horn by the Swiss Alpine herdsmen as they drove their cattle to or from the pasture. The Kuhreihen was linked to the Swiss nostalgia and Homesickness

29. Movement III: Scène aux champs – Scene in the fields
From 7:15 the mood begins to change and grows darker
Abrupt change of mood disturbs the tranquillity as thoughts of the beloved enter the composer’s mind (idée fixe) at 8:06 played on the flute and oboe
idée fix combined with the sigh and agitated basses and falling scales
At 9.11 considerable change of mood (Listen how Berlioz has
“But what if she were deceiving him?”
From 7: – Listen to this section and highlight the key changes of mood in the music? What is the state of mind of the artist now?
Jealous rages when the artist sees his beloved with someone else?
Berlioz uses the whole orchestra
Angry tremolo from the bassoons and lower strings

30. ‘Scene in the fields’ – movie trailer
Listen to the section of music from Movement III
Draw a timeline from
LISTEN 1
Imagine this was a movie trailer, identify the key ‘action’ or ‘cue’ points where you think something happens or changes
LISTEN 2
You know the background to the story so now be creative and think what could be happening at these action points or cues
LISTEN 3
Describe musically what is happening that led you to think about the action you described above
Present your work to the other group

31. Psycho versus Berlioz

32. Scene in the fields – Scene from a film
Tremolo – expresses unrest, excitement and terror
Use of diminished 7th chords
Contrasting high pitched melody against rapid notes in the bass line
Growling bass line in low strings
Use of diminished chords
Short staccato ff chords
Off beat chords

33. Scene in the fields – Final Scene
Listen from 14:37 Outro
Spot the differences from the ‘Intro’

34. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
The fourth movement takes on a nightmarish character: having taken opium, the young artist dreams that he has killed his true love and is about to be executed for his crime. This movement thus depicts the artist’s forced march to the scaffold.

35. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Based on two very distinct and distinctive themes
Idée fixe appears, as it does in every movement, but this time only once
At the opening of this movement Berlioz tells the horns to pitch their notes by the use of their lips, and with hands in the bell, ‘without using valves’ – why? Is this because he wants the notes to be very quiet and slightly muffled – distant sounding? How would this reflect the tuning?

36. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Identify how the insturmentation and texture change with repetition of Theme 1
Listen to Theme 2 – How is it it’s character different?
Listen to section 5:04 Development and Coda section

37. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Introduction 0:00-0:31
G minor
insistent, very controlled beating of the drums; we are waiting for something
Evokes impending doom – low double bass chords
There is an excited buzz as the distant sounds of an approaching military band are heard.
The horns repeat the first two bars of what will eventually be the full march tune.

38. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Theme 1 – Descending theme
2-octave span
G minor
Fierce theme spirals relentlessly downward pulling our hero with it
It is heard 5 times here - consider the changes in instrumentation and treatment of the theme in each rendition

39. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Theme 1 – Descending theme repeats x 5
Cellos and double basses play theme
Counter melody in bassoons. Higher cellos
Octave theme now in 1st and 2nd violins, stactatto counter melody in the lower strings, dramatic chord at the end
Stacatto counter melody continues in the strings, 2 octave theme again in the violins, timpani rolls and chords at the end
Quaver idea moves to the bassons

40. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Theme 2 – March Theme

41. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Theme 2 – March Theme
Triumphant march which takes our hero to the scaffold
This is typical of military band music often heard outdoors in France in the nineteenth century
4/4
Bb Major
Syncopated and strong, forward-moving rhythms - The dotted rhythm of its second and third bars will supply one of the many wild figures used later in the movement
very full brass, woodwind and percussion sections (no strings at this point)
Transformation of the pastoral theme from Movement 3

42. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Listen to section 5:04
Development and Coda section
How does the new texture and the treatment of the themes contribute to the suggestion that the mood of the crowd - and the man about to be executed- is close to being ‘out of control’?

43. Movement IV - Marche au Supplice – March to the Scaffold
Swirling violins
Fortissimo to pianissimo
Dramatic chords
Descending theme inverted
Descending scale
Juxtaposed chords a tritone (6 semitones) apart – the Devil’s interval!

44. Movement IV – March to the Scaffold
The tumultuous treatment of the scalic theme stops abruptly (the crowd is hushed?). In the brief silence, the first phrase only of the idée fixe is played (‘dolce assai e appassionato – as sweetly and passionately as possible’) by solo, unaccompanied clarinet – distant and removed
The idee fixe appears only once, as a sudden reminiscence just before the guillotine strikes the young man’s head right off and the movement comes to a perversely joyous conclusion
The only personal note is the fleeting image of the beloved that passes before the composer’s eyes at the last moment before the guillotine falls – a truncated version of the idée fixe - followed by the macabre dull thud of falling pizzicatos.
final (major) chords triumphant rejoicing (the cheers of the crowd?) at the conclusion of the ritual?

45. Movement V
Listen to the distorted version of the idee fixe in Movement V

46. Answering the question
PRACTICE EXAM QUESTION - for submission on Monday 2 November
With reference to movements II, III and IV of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique discuss a range of examples to show how instrumental music can tell a story, or suggest visual images, or express mood or character. [35 marks]
What are the key moments in the piece?

47. KEY POINTS IN THE PIECE?
The build up to the ball
The ball itself
Shepherds scene
Scene in the fields movie trailer section
Themes 1 and 2 in Movement 4
The ending of Movement 4 - Compare the sense of glory in the march theme with the despair and loneliness of the Idee fixe in movement 4
Think about Orchestration, texture, key,

48. Resources http://www.rpo.org/UserFiles/Link/Berlioz.pdf
Ipad app - The orchestra
The context is extensively explored in the Norton Critical Score of the work (ed. Cone, Edward T., 1971), which also contains very clear translations of the programme and useful discussions of each movement.