HECTOR BERLIOZ
and the
Symphonie Fantastique
A caricature of Berlioz, c. 1831, just before he departed for Rome. At this time, Berlioz
was in the midst of revising the Symphonie Fantastique.
© Alex Burtzos, www.alexburtzosmusic.com February 2013
Plagiarism is illegal. All persons utilizing this research must cite it properly.
Introduction - Two Nights to Remember
1
On September 11, 1827, the intellectual and societal elite of Paris packed into the Théâter de
l'Odéone to see a production of Shakespeare's Hamlet presented by William Abbot's English acting
troupe. Vigny, Gautier, and Dumas – famous authors who formed the core of the romantic literary
spirit in France – were all there. Also in the audience was Louis-Hector Berlioz (1803-69), a former
medical student who since 1824 had been struggling to make a living as a composer.
Abbot had enlisted the services of Charles Kemble, a renowned thespian, to play Hamlet. The
part of Ophelia, being small and relatively simple, was given without much thought to the Irish
company actress Harriet Smithson (1800-64). This state of affairs was turned on its head, however,
when Miss Smithson turned in the performance of a lifetime. Astonishing the audience with her
portrayal of Ophelia's overwhelming grief and subsequent madness, Smithson stole the stage from
Kemble and became a star overnight. For the remainder of the season, she was the leading lady in
every drama the company presented.
Despite the fact that he spoke almost no English, this encounter with Shakespeare's storytelling
was a revelation for Berlioz. And Harriet Smithson (whose greatest dramatic gifts, according to all
accounts, were for pantomime and physical expression) became associated in his mind with the
extraordinary drama. As Smithson closed out the season by portraying Desdemona and Juliet, she
became, unwittingly, the object of the young composer's infatuation. Berlioz attempted to see
Smithson on numerous occasions (without success), and sent love letters to her residence, receiving no
response. When Smithson returned to England later that year, Berlioz was heartbroken.
2
Close on the heels of this came Berlioz's introduction to another artistic titan. On March 9,
1828, a new series of public concerts began in Paris. These were the Société des Concerts du
Conservatoire, founded by Françoise-Antoine Habeneck to promote contemporary orchestral music.
For the inaugural performance, an orchestra of twenty-five winds and fifty-six strings performed
Beethoven's Eroica symphony for the first time in France. Berlioz was as electrified by Beethoven as
he had been by Shakespeare. He became a regular at the Sunday afternoon concerts, and by the end of
1829, he had heard performed Beethoven's fifth, sixth, and seventh symphonies, as well as assorted
overtures, concerti, and other pieces. In his spare time, Berlioz began to study the life and work of “the
Colossus of Bonn,” and incorporate Beethoven's innovations into his own compositional technique.
~
Thus, as 1829 drew to a close, Berlioz's head was swimming. As he wrote in his Memoirs,
some years later, “In an artist's life one thunderclap sometimes follows swiftly upon another... I saw the
giant form of Beethoven rear up. The shock was almost as great as that of Shakespeare had been.
Beethoven opened before me a new world of music, as Shakespeare had revealed a new universe of
poetry.”
It was at this time that the young composer conceived of a grand vision for a new romantic
work which would join the drama implicit in Beethoven with that explicit in Shakespeare. The work
would be based on Berlioz's own unrequited love for Harriet Smithson. With any luck, she would hear
it, recognize his genius, and finally return his affection.
It was an improbable scheme.
And most improbably, it worked.
Berlioz's Life and Times (through 1830)
1803
Berlioz born in La Côte de St.-André
1803
France sells Louisiana to the United States
1815
Napoleon defeated at Waterloo and exiled
for the second (and final) time
1817
Berlioz has learned to play flute. He performs with the
local national guard band, and studies the theory treatises
of Rameau and Catel.
1819
M. F.-X Dorant is hired as the new town music master,
replacing M. Imbert. Dorant introduces Berlioz to the guitar.
Berlioz's first compositions are songs with guitar accompaniment.
1821
Death of Napoleon
1821
Berlioz leaves for Paris to study Medicine.
1822
Berlioz has largely abandoned studying medicine; He begins studying
composition privately with Jean-Françoise Le Sueur.
1822
The accordion is invented in Vienna. It spreads across
Europe to Britain over the course of several years.
1823
Berlioz informs his family that he wishes to pursue a musical career:
they agree to keep supporting him only if he completes his degree.
1825
Berlioz earns a degree qualifying him to practice either law or
medicine.
1825
Louis XVIII dies and is replaced by
Charles X.
1826
Berlioz enters the prix de Rome for the first time.
He would try again each year before finally winning
in 1830.
1827
Death of Beethoven
1827
Berlioz encounters Harriet Smithson
1830
Charles X is deposed by a popular uprising (Berlioz
is working on his prix de Rome cantata when he hears
cannon in the streets; he attempts to join in the revolution
without much success).
1830
Berlioz becomes engaged to 18-year-old pianist Camille Moke.
1830
Berlioz wins the prix de Rome.
1830
On December 5, the premiere of the Symphonie Fantastique.
Harriet Smithson is in Paris at the time, but doesn't attend the
premiere. Three weeks later, Berlioz departs for Italy.
The Symphonie Fantastique – Structure (for 1830 Premiere)
Symphonie Fantastique
Beethoven, Symphony no. 6, “Pastoral”
I. “Reveries – Passions”
I. “Awakening of Cheerful Feelings Upon Arrival in the Country”
II. “Scene in the Fields”
II. “Scene by the Brook”
III. “A Ball”
III. “Happy Gathering of Country Folk”
IV. “March to the Scaffold”
IV. “Thunderstorm”
V. “Dream of a Witch's Sabbath”
V. “Shepherd's Song; Feelings of Thanksgiving After the Storm”
As can be seen, Berlioz planned the dramatic structure of his symphony to correspond to that in
Beethoven's sixth symphony, which was likely the only piece of programmatic instrumental music he
knew. At some point during the revisions of the 1830's, Berlioz swapped the order of movements II
and III, distorting this parallel but improving the flow of the work.
The Program
The following program was printed in newspapers and distributed to the audience before the premiere:
I. The author imagines that a young vibrant musician, afflicted by the sickness of spirit which a famous writer has
II.
III.
IV.
V.
called the wave of passions, sees for the first time a woman who unites all the charms of the ideal person his
imagination was dreaming of, and falls desperately in love with her. By a strange anomaly, the beloved image
never presents itself to the artist’s mind without being associated with a musical idea, in which he recognizes a
certain quality of passion, but endowed with the nobility and shyness which he credits to the object of his love.
This melodic image and its model keep haunting him ceaselessly like a double idée fixe...
The artist finds himself in the most diverse situations in life, in the tumult of a festive party, in the peaceful
contemplation of the beautiful sights of nature, yet everywhere, whether in town or in the countryside, the beloved
image keeps haunting him and throws his spirit into confusion.
One evening in the countryside he hears two shepherds in the distance conversing with their ranz des vaches; this
pastoral duet, the setting, the gentle rustling of the trees in the wind, some causes for hope that he has recently
conceived, all conspire to restore to his heart an unaccustomed feeling of calm and to give to his thoughts a happier
coloring. He broods on his loneliness, and hopes that soon he will no longer be on his own... But what if she
betrayed him!... This mingled hope and fear, these ideas of happiness, disturbed by dark premonitions, form the
subject of the adagio. At the end one of the shepherds resumes his ranz des vaches; the other one no longer
answers. Distant sound of thunder... solitude... silence ...
Convinced that his love is unappreciated, the artist poisons himself with opium. The dose of narcotic, while too
weak to cause his death, plunges him into a heavy sleep accompanied by the strangest of visions. He dreams that
he has killed his beloved, that he is condemned, led to the scaffold and is witnessing his own execution. As he cries
for forgiveness the effects of the narcotic set in. He wants to hide but he cannot so he watches as an onlooker as he
dies. The procession advances to the sound of a march that is sometimes sombre and wild, and sometimes brilliant
and solemn, in which a dull sound of heavy footsteps follows without transition the loudest outbursts. At the end of
the march, the first four bars of the idée fixe reappear like a final thought of love interrupted by the fatal blow when
his head bounced down the steps.
He sees himself at a witch's sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every
kind who have come together for his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter; distant shouts which
seem to be answered by more shouts. The beloved melody appears once more, but has now lost its noble and shy
character; it is now no more than a vulgar dance tune, trivial and grotesque: it is she who is coming to the sabbath...
Roar of delight at her arrival... She joins the diabolical orgy... The funeral knell tolls, burlesque parody of the Dies
irae, the dance of the witches. The dance of the witches combined with the Dies irae.
Innovations in the Symphonie Fantastique
- New instruments in the orchestra (most had only been used in opera or military bands):
E-Flat Clarinet
Cornet [added c. 1831, probably for the virtuoso trumpeter J.J.B. Arban to perform]
Harps (2)
Ophicleides
Bells and other percussion
- The idée fixe – a melodic idea with a specific dramatic implication which recurs throughout the piece.
Although the melody may be altered rhythmically and/or transposed, its specific shape and
interval makeup never changes, making it easy to recognize. Though cyclic elements are
present in Beethoven's fifth and ninth symphonies, this represents a new approach to the binding
together of symphonic movements.
The idée fixe melody as it first appears, I, mm. 72-111
- Novel orchestral effects adopted from theater and opera. Examples include using four timpanists to
create a thunder effect at the end of movement III, the eight-part divisi of the upper strings in
movement V, and more. These moments are often coupled with very specific instructions;
Berlioz calls for mutes, col legno playing, offstage instruments, particular drumsticks, and
more.
- Non-Traditional Key structures – as D. Kern Holoman points out, the tonal centers of the five
movements of the Symphonie Fantastique in its final form (C → A → F → g → C) are a
departure from the classical (or even Beethovenian) norm. They do, however, make sense as
the members of a chord progression (I → VI → IV → v → I).
- Form which is dictated by the drama, rather than by any sort of musical standard (see below).
Analysis: Symphonie Fantastique, V, “Dream of a Witches' Sabbath” in C-Major
Large Section
Material
Introduction
Exposition
Strings | idée fixe | Fanfare | idée fixe
mm.
1
Key Area
I
21
29
bIII
40
Bells | Dies irae | Round Dance
102
i
127
Development
Recapitulation
Fragmentation | Dominant Pedal
Irae/Round | Closing
241
305
363
408
I→V
bIII
V
I
496
While it is certainly possible to analyze this movement according to the principles of sonata-allegro form, it is certainly not a traditional
interpretation of this structure. The introduction, which is slow, is disproportionately long: it contains a modulation, and (due to the
inclusion of the idée fixe) a theme which doesn't belong. The allegro begins in the parallel minor, an unexpected key, while the second
theme begins in the tonic and modulates only in time to the dominant. When these two themes are restated in the recapitulation, they are not
only transposed to the tonic major, but layered against one another in counterpoint. Particularly for a piece written just 20 years after the
death of Haydn, this is a radical departure from sonata form as it was generally employed.
However, the form of the piece makes perfect sense when viewed against Berlioz's program:
He sees himself at a witches’ sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come
together for his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter; distant shouts which seem to be answered by more shouts. The
beloved melody appears once more, but has now lost its noble and shy character; it is now no more than a vulgar dance tune, trivial and
grotesque: it is she who is coming to the sabbath... Roar of delight at her arrival... She joins the diabolical orgy... The funeral knell tolls,
burlesque parody of the Dies irae, the dance of the witches. The dance of the witches combined with the Dies irae.
The Eb major fanfare in m. 29, for example, is strange in the context of a sonata-form introduction, but perfectly defensible as the “roar of
approval” described in the text. It is apparent that this movement was composed with the drama as a primary concern, and that Berlioz paid
only fleeting attention to the strictures of traditional form.
Epilogue – One Final Night
Berlioz, 1832
Harriet Smithson, 1832
~
On December 9, 1832, Paris's high society was again assembled in one theater. The occasion
was a performance of the revised Symphonie Fantastique. In the five years since that fateful
performance of Hamlet, Berlioz had transformed from the city's resident enfant terrible to the artistic
toast of town. His engagement to Camille Moke was long broken. Two years of residency in Rome –
although not without incident – had softened somewhat his volcanic impetuosity, and rendered him
more palatable to the Parisian public. Victor Hugo, Franz Liszt, Niccolo Paganini and Alexander
Dumas were all there. And there with them sat Harriet Smithson, who had returned to Paris in an
attempt to establish her own acting company.
The day after the performance, Berlioz received a message from Smithson: against all odds, she
had recognized herself in his musical portraits, and wished to meet. On December 15, the two finally
stood face to face and, before long, confessed love for one another. After a difficult engagement of
which neither of their families approved, they were married on October 3, 1833.
It was not a perfect romance. Harriet inured her leg badly shortly before their wedding, and
forever after walked with a limp. The injury ended her acting career, and money was often hard to
come by. Smithson spoke little French, and Berlioz very stilted English. Both were prone to flashes of
temper. In 1841, Berlioz took a mistress, and in 1844 the couple (although still married) separated.
Four years later, Smithson suffered a series of strokes which left her permanently disabled. She died in
1854.
Berlioz became known across Europe during his lifetime as a composer, conductor, and writer.
However, his personal life was less than stable. He outlived two wives, at least one serious mistress
and his only son, the loss of all of whom (even Harriet) caused him tremendous grief. Berlioz died in
1869, and was buried in Paris alongside both Harriet Smithson and his second wife.
The melancholy aftermath of the Symphonie Fantastique is, however, not entirely the point.
Berlioz's life and work represented a new vision of what it meant to be an artist. He was (excepting
maybe Beethoven) the first true romantic, and the way he lived reflected the ideals he expressed in his
art. Berlioz believed in the idea of perfect, passionate, impossible love – and through incredible
willpower, he made this ideal a reality. In this sense, the story of Baerlioz, Harriet, and the Symphonie
Fantastique must be viewed not as a tragedy, but as a triumph of 18th-century artistic philosophy.
Study Questions
1) What is the structure of movements the Symphonie Fantastique? What other well-known symphony
was the basis for this structure?
2) What were Berlioz's literary, musical, and personal motivations for writing the Symphonie
Fantastique?
3) What is an idèe fixe? In what ways can it be altered, and in what ways must it remain constant?
4) What are some of the novel instrumental techniques used in the Symphonie Fantastique?
5) What was Berlioz's main consideration is determining the formal structures in the Symphonie
Fantastique?
Further Reading
Barzun, Jacques. Berlioz and the Romantic Century. New York: Columbia, 1969
Cairns, David, ed. The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 2003.
Holoman, D. Kern. Berlioz. Boston: Harvard, 1989.