Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique

Melody:

• Tritones used lots in the 4th movement to depict the horror of the narrative
• Dies-irae 13th century plainchant melody considered to represent death- programmatic element
• Idée fixe - simple melody starting with an arpeggiated triad
• Programme music- melodies tell specific story show love
• Slow introduction- idée fixe alluded to by violins
• Dies-irae begins bar 127 derived from 13th century Latin sequence

Texture:

• Berlioz was a very innovative composer who was known to make these really big and dramatic musical gestures and he was often doing his own thing instead of harking back to other composers.
  • The end of the 3rd movement features the astonishing effect of 4 timpani being used to produce chords (sounding very muddy due to the register in which they are playing), with the bizarre texture being completed by a solo cor anglais. Likely to be the first instance this innovation has been seen.
  • This continues into the 4th movement where the Double Basses play 4-part G minor chords, whilst the timpani play 2-part chords (G & Bb) to an ominous triplet rhythm, with the double basses playing incredibly low, adding more of an ominous muddy sound.
• The atmospheric opening to the witches’ sabbath finale sees the strings divided into 10 parts (p. 97)Monophony at the end of the 4th movement.
• Examples of monophonic texture, melody-dominated homophony & homophonic chordal texture.

Harmony:

Berlioz composed symphonie fantastique in the early romantic period, so he began to introduce more romantic language, such as the use of tritones in the 4th movement, contrasting his mostly diatonic material

• The dissonant harmony in the 4th movement reflects the story of the 4th movement, the execution of the protagonist
• 5th movement uses more modal harmony evidenced in his use of the Dies Irae (uses aeolian mode or modal 7th), evidence of Berlioz incorporating other influences into his symphony
• Uses the musical elements to help him tell the story
• Idée Fixe in C major first time only uses chords I and V - gets more complex as time goes on, for instance with diminished 7th chords that fall sequentially in step

Development of movement conventions:

• Uses a 5 movement structure
• It is programme music that is based around a story that Berlioz wrote.
• Cyclic Form- has the recurring Ideé fixe (explain how it is treated in each movement)
• First movement in sonata form, begins with the traditional slow introduction, however in comparison to many of the earlier symphonies Berlioz has a much more fluid tempo.
• The 3rd movement ‘a scene in the fields’ would be considered the slow movement - again unusual due to the placement of this movement.
• Heavily features use of woodwind - growing importance.
• This movement ends with a cor anglais and timpani playing this muddy sounding chord, preparing us for the ‘March to the gallows, arguably the turning point of the symphony where it suddenly becomes really dark

Extra-musical influences:

• Another programmatic symphony detailing stories of love, despair and suicide.
• March to the gallows movement is a march-like movement where the strings act as cheers for the people on their way.
• Dies Irae in the final movement (witches sabbath) is used as a dark funeral theme.
• Idée Fixe, one of the first examples of it being used, first appears in Flute in mvt , representing ‘the beloved’ (based on Harriet Smithson), appears in every movement becoming very grotesque by the last movement (on Eb Clarinet). Now a square 8 bar melody instead of a flowing theme-Final movement is played like a jig/dance - maybe linked to Smithson’s role as an actor