Symphony Fantastique

Symphonie Fantastique is a symphony written by French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is quite possibly one of the most important and representative pieces of the Romantic period, and is still very popular to this day. The first performance took place at the Paris Conservatoire in December 1830. In many aspects Symphonie Fantastique and J.M.W. Turner’s “Slave Ship” are very similar. Romanticism was a movement during the mid to late 1700’s in Europe; this was around the time of the Industrial Revolution. This was movement was targeted against the wealthy and the aristocratic. Most art from the Romanticism era were visual arts, music, and literature. One such work of art is J.M.W. Turner’s “Slave Ship”. His painting depicted a scene of chaos with different color clouds in the sky it showed uncertainty or trouble brewing. At the left corner of the painting it shows a slave ship on the sea and it seems dramatic and dark. I believe this was his way of conveying his abolishing of slavery. At the bottom of the painting, although I am not positive of what is trying to be depicted I believe it is slaves in shackles and being killed and or tortured. It truly is a gruesome painting and with a wide mixture of colors, it is very descriptive and it helps the J.M.W. Turner communicate his message to those that are viewing his painting. Symphonie Fantastique is a symphony written by French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830 and composed of five movements. It was written for his English lover and was program music. The first movement is the basic introduction to the movements and it starts off slow and emotional and then it quickens and sounds frantic and crazy. With the slowing and speeding up of the music, there are elements of acoustics and it sounds like there is a heavy and light use of plucking strings. There is also a very repetitive themes, both the acoustics and in the pounding of the drum. Unpredictability was also an element of the movement, just when you thought