Symphonie Fantastique Analysis
Symphonie Fantastique:
The Hopeless
Romantic 's Guide to
Nineteenth Century
Program Music
1
Inspired by the great philosophers, poets and storytellers of his day, Berlioz was one of the first composers who sought to merge drama and music into a single genre through the medium of his own creative and highly innovative soundscape. The result was a five movement orchestral masterpiece that is to this day still considered one of the most revolutionary works of the 19th century. The Symphonie Fantastique is an autobiographical work that illustrates "An Episode in the life of an Artist" to which the composer provides detailed program notes: A young man is overcome by his unreciprocated love and intakes a dose of opium with the intention …show more content…
The solemn mood is quickly established through a rhythmic pas-à-pas figure in the double basses and timpani (four as in the previous movement) that remains pervasive throughout the movement. A noteworthy feature of this introduction is its complete lack of upper range sonorities due to Berlioz 's choice of instrumentation, the result of which is a grim and barren sound that would not have been half as effective without the highly descriptive nature of his orchestra.15 The movement develops with a simple alternation of two themes until the coda is reached, in which Berlioz contrasts a D-flat major chord in the brass and woodwinds against a G minor chord in the strings. This tritone relationship portrays the angst of the moment as the Artist witnesses himself slowly approaching the gallows (later borrowed by Mussorgsky for the Coronation Scene of Boris Godunov).16 As the character finally reaches the scaffold, the idée fixe is brought in by the clarinet in a wistful moment of nostalgia, untransformed in its original form, only to be cut short by the falling blade of the guillotine as the tutti sounds a thunderous G minor chord. As an additional element of
The Hopeless
Romantic 's Guide to
Nineteenth Century
Program Music
1
Inspired by the great philosophers, poets and storytellers of his day, Berlioz was one of the first composers who sought to merge drama and music into a single genre through the medium of his own creative and highly innovative soundscape. The result was a five movement orchestral masterpiece that is to this day still considered one of the most revolutionary works of the 19th century. The Symphonie Fantastique is an autobiographical work that illustrates "An Episode in the life of an Artist" to which the composer provides detailed program notes: A young man is overcome by his unreciprocated love and intakes a dose of opium with the intention …show more content…
The solemn mood is quickly established through a rhythmic pas-à-pas figure in the double basses and timpani (four as in the previous movement) that remains pervasive throughout the movement. A noteworthy feature of this introduction is its complete lack of upper range sonorities due to Berlioz 's choice of instrumentation, the result of which is a grim and barren sound that would not have been half as effective without the highly descriptive nature of his orchestra.15 The movement develops with a simple alternation of two themes until the coda is reached, in which Berlioz contrasts a D-flat major chord in the brass and woodwinds against a G minor chord in the strings. This tritone relationship portrays the angst of the moment as the Artist witnesses himself slowly approaching the gallows (later borrowed by Mussorgsky for the Coronation Scene of Boris Godunov).16 As the character finally reaches the scaffold, the idée fixe is brought in by the clarinet in a wistful moment of nostalgia, untransformed in its original form, only to be cut short by the falling blade of the guillotine as the tutti sounds a thunderous G minor chord. As an additional element of