On this day, in 1886, Franz Liszt sadly passed away at the age of 74. A genius of the programmatic piano pieces or the founder of the genuine symphonic poem. That, but not exclusively, is Franz Liszt. A Hungarian composer, who considered himself Hungarian, but was very poor in speaking the language of the nation. Interestingly, however, he was fluent in German, French and Italian and knew some English. His close relationship to Richard Wagner, also because of Wagner’s marriage to his daughter Cosima, remains one of the most interesting and close relationships in music history. Liszt was a great influence for other masters of the symphonic poems and of piano compositions. People like to compare him to Chopin, but Liszt was on a different level. If you don’t believe me, then have a listen. At the end of this entry you will find some of the wonderful music by Liszt.
By the by, you still are able to listen to Ilan Volkov leading the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in two of Franz Liszt’s symphonic poems, namely “Macbeth” and “From the Cradle to the Grave” on the BBC iPlayer. Furthermore, the concert featured the “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Mussorgsky and Julian Anderson’s new piano concerto (“The Imaginary Museum”).
This entry will deal with a symphony that was written rather at the beginning of the 19th century, but could have easily been written in the 20th because of its sophisticated ideas and usage of instruments as well as compositional techniques., Berlioz’s 1830 masterpiece, Symphonie Fantastique. For instance, Berlioz uses some unconventional instruments, as, for example, cornets, an ophicleide (an instrument similar to a tuba), two bells (in C and G), two sets of timpani and even two harps (not many orchestras could find two harp playes, so often the part was played by two pianos instead). This intricate approach is something that is typical of Berlioz.
Well, the piece is an early example of what we today call program music. Before we proceed, let me just explain the most important distinction of genre in classical music. We have ‘absolute and ‘program’ music. The former is never bound to a specific program or story, whereas the latter is. Program music developed in the middle of the 19th century through works by Franz Liszt and later Richard Strauss, but, as we see, our friend Hector also had to say something in the discussed work, but also in its sequel Lelio and also in his symphonies Harold in Italy and Romeo and Juliet.
The program of this piece was published in two versions (an initial and a revised one) by Berlioz himself and it is quite tragic, but also funny. It is, as the composer stated, an “Épisode de la vie d’un artiste … en cinq parties”, so an episode of an artist’s life in five parts or movements. By the by, this is another unconventional aspect: A symphony in five movement. Only Beethoven allowed to do that in his Pastoral, but how can a certain Berlioz , who only began his carrer, do that? Well, Berlioz admired Beethoven, especially his revolutionary piano sonatas, string quartets and symphonies, very much, and here we can see, why Berlioz took a revolutionary approach in his works.
The symphony is about a depressed artist (probably Berlioz himself) , who took opium because a girl did not return him her feelings of love. There, we have finished! Just kidding, the symphony is really an adventure. So, let’s discuss the most important aspect of it, namely the fix idea or, in Wagner’s terms, the leitmotiv of the symphony. A little while later Balzac used the “idee fixe” to describe an obsession or an obssesive idea. Berlioz also, I think, wants to describe such an idea because the historical context of the work tells us so. After a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he met an Irish actress, namely Harriet Smithson, with whom he fell madly in love. However, she didn’t return him his feelings and this was an incentive to write a symphony because of her or to use the fix idea to refer to the “beloved”. You will hear the motif in each movement (it is haunting the artist), in different ways, but is central in the first movement because it forms the core of the allegro.
Harriet Smithson
Now, to the first movement, entitled “Rêveries – Passions”, or reveries and passions (I know that it is a complex translation). I will mostly, but not exclusively tend to describe Berlioz’s 1845 outline or program of his symphony because I think that were the real ideas behind his 1830 masterpiece (he wrote another program in 1855).
So, Berlioz writes that we have to imagine a musician, whose spirit is sick, but he sees a woman (idee fixe) of his dreams and falls madly in love with her. Berlioz describes the fix idea as being passionate, but also as having a certain amount of shyness and nobility, which the artist credits to his beloved. The movement, according to the composer, moves from a dreamy melancholy (sonata form: the introduction:” Largo”), leading then in the main part to joy and passion, but also jealousy and, finally, returning to the tenderness, the tears (cf. 18th century Age of Sensibility), which form the beginning of the religious aspect or, probably also, mockery, of the work. Interestingly, the theme itself was taken from Berlioz’s unsuccessful cantata that was awarded with the second place at the 1828 Prix de Rome, named “Herminie”( Berlioz attempted to win the competition four times, but only won once, and even then jointly, with his work “Sardanapale”). So, our musician is clearly in love, but let us see whether he will he remain in such a state.
The second movement, entitled “Un Bal” or a ball. In fact, Berlioz, in the second version (1855) of his programme to the work, says that our musician is on a ball. Whom does he encounter? Of course, the beloved. Now, in the first version of the outline of the symphony (1845) Berlioz describes that the second movement is about diversity and partying, but also about the hero considering the nature that is around him. Furthermore, Berlioz here describes that the beloved keeps haunting him everywhere he is and throws him into confusion.
Musically, the second movement begins with a mysterious introduction that is dominated by the sound of two harps, but soon opens itself to a nice waltz. This waltz is derived from the fix idea and the idea itself also appears twice, thus interrupting the waltz and which we can interpret as the moment of confusion, the time when the musician sees or thinks about his beloved.
In the third movement, “Scene aux champs”, we are in the countryside. Two shepherds (represented by an oboe and a cor anglais) communicate with eachother. It is a calm picture and our hero, only for a short time as we will see, turns away from his depression and melancholy and grasps some hope that his loneliness will come to an end in the calmness of the nature. But, dark thoughts reappear again through the yet another repetition of the fix idea. A mixture of fear and hope, of happiness and dark ideas, of the anxiety of being betrayed by his beloved build the core of this section. At the end, the loneliness or the unfaithfulness of a person can be seen through the end of the dialogue between the oboe and the cor anglais, which sadly fades out. In between, four timpani (four players required!) indicate a distant thunder.
The moments of calmness and happiness are now over for good. In the fourth movement, the famous “Marche au supplice” or the “March to the scaffold”. Our musician does not think anymore that he will be able to be in a relationship with his beloved. Consequently, he takes opium that takes him to a(n) (un)pleasant trip. He falls asleep and in his dream, a lot occurs: he kills his beloved, is condemned to death and taken to the scaffold to be executed.
Musically, these actions are accompanied by, as the title suggests, a wild, but also solemn( cf. the critique of religion) march. The music was reconstructed by one of his unfinished opera projects, “Les francs-juges”. The march is interrupted by the fix idea, which demonstrates the musician’s final thought of love or, we could argue, maybe the ghost of the beloved that is laughing and pointing a finger towards our hero. Then the fix idea itself is interrupted by a ff from the whole orchestra, representing the blow that killed our hero. A tragedy!
Or is it? My dear readers, there is another movement, the “Songe d’une nuit du sabbat” or the “Dream of the Night of Sabbath”. The musician dreams that he is part of his own funeral. Personally, I think that this is the most modern movement of the whole work and could have been easily written at the beginning of the 20th century. It is really insane. That’s what the positive effects of opium can be, although I wouldn’t recommend using it.
So, our musician attends his own funeral. How mad is that? The beginning of the movement is very gloomy. High pitch violins create an atmosphere of horror and present the flying of witches on their brooms, almost glissando like violoncelli present the ascending horror that awaits the artist and the woodwinds recreate the sounds of ghosts. The theme returns afterwards, but a semitone higher.
It is a tone poem like picture before Liszt coined the term of the “symphonic poem”. Liszt was a great admirer of Berlioz and arranged a lot of his pieces, including Symphonie Fantastique and parts of his its Lelio as well as also Harold in Italy, for piano.
Now, back to the funeral. You wouldn’t think about it, but the fix idea again returns, but now as a grotesque and vulgar dance-like motif in the clarinet. Soon, it is interrupted by a loud outburst of general confusion and ecstazy, which we can interpret as the impatience of the ghosts, witches and skeletons that want the funeral procession to begin. The fix idea then returns in the woodwinds in its full horror and parody of the original theme (remember the first and the second movements (indicated by swirls)). Another loud outburst of impatience and directly afterwards the fugue of the Witches Round Dance is indicated, but almost instantly interrupted by a deep voice that brings us back to the darkness and signals the start of the funeral procession.
Now, before we continue, it is important to talk about two musical aspects that we will hear in the following sections. The first is the fugue. What is a fugue? Well, it is a composition in numerous (at least two, but that is really the most boring option) voices in a contrapunctal relationship, i. e. main theme vs. other voices that are dependent in harmony (hence they are polyphonic because of the numerous voices), but independent in melody, rhythm and pitch), that is built upon a sogetto or a theme and is then imitated at different pitches ( it incorporates ideas of the canon, but is something completely different: “Brother John”, “Mojster Jaka”). Quite mathematical and intricate, isn’t it? But, why do composers use fugues? Well, often to show that they are masters of the counterpoint and composition in general. Already in the Renaissance and in the Barock era the fugue was the peak of musical output and a sign of genius.
Some examples of fugues after the masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach: The end Mozart’s finale of his Symphony no. 41 in C major “Jupiter”, in which Mozart combines four independent melodies into a fugue; Richard Strauss’s section “Von der Wissenschaft” of his “Also Sprach Zaratustra” and the 3rd movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no. 9.
The second thing, which also brings us back to the discussed piece, is the Dies Irae (roughly translated: “the day of wrath”) that follows. The people that don’t know anything about the Mass of the dead or the Requiem also don’t know what Dies Irae is. It is often the second section of the Requiem mass that is part of a catholic funeral (again, remember that the whole piece is a critique of (organised) religion). In 1837, Berlioz also wrote a whole ten-movement-long Grande Messe des Morts or, simply, Requiem. Here is the Dies Irae in our piece.
The gloominess of the piece and the images of death become even more horrible with the Requiem. The bells begin to toll, but the bells are twice interrupted by the impatient witches that want to begin their dance. A strike from the whole orchestra silences the witches and the procession finally begins. The Dies Irae enters with long note values (cf. the picture above), then with shorter ones and, finally, in a parodic, giggling manner that terrifies our artist (string glissando). This part is repeated several times and it represents the artist’s doom.
Finally, the witches are allowed to perform their dance. Fanfare calls indicate that it is their time to come to the stage.
The rhythm is quite irregular because of the syncopations that interrupt the fugue. Then, the fugue and the Dies Irae motifs are used alternately. However, the witches’ fugue is dominant and it rises to a climax, to a terrifying, mad syncopation that lasts for a short time. The fugue then returns in its perfect form and is brilliantly combined with the Dies Irae motif. The rising and falling woodwinds indicate the panic and the agony that our artist has to endure. Afterwards, col legno played violins represent the dancing skeletons that add up to the horror. The fugue now becomes really hellish with the tremolos in the woodwinds. Here is the combination of the fugue with the Dies Irae:
The shrieking woodwinds show the artist’s horror and the main theme really builds to total excitement of the witches and other demons. For the last time the Dies Irae returns with in its most evil version, the crescendos and decrescendos of the bass drum indicating the thunder. The music builds into a triumphant ending in the key of C major that shifts to A and suddendly to E flat. The interval from A to E flat is a tritone and such an interval has been called as diabolus in musica (“the devil in music”) from about the times Georg Phillip Telemann and Johann Joseph Fux. No wonder Berlioz uses such an interval in his finale. Finally, the music turns back to C major. The trombones sound like a gloomy and devilish “ha, ha, ha” and provide an answer to the shrieks of the artist that can be heard in the woodwinds. The piece finishes with a triumphant C major chord in a fermata.
We have seen that Berlioz created a new musical world with his Symphonie Fantastique and that he was a great influence on composers like Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and other composers that were interested in modernism or music that tells us stories. With the piece, Berlioz finally got the attention of Harriet Smithson, but the marriage that followed didn’t last for a long time. However, thank you Mrs. Smithson for ignoring Mr. Berlioz so that he could write his, probably, best known work. It is also the first example, in Leonard Bernstein’s words, of drug influenced music.
Here is a version that I would recommend: Sir Colin Davis’s interpretation with the London Symphony Orchestra. Davis was a great admirer of Berlioz and conducted many of his works. He was consider as a standard conductor of Berlioz. I own a great recording of Berlioz’s Les Troyens on LP.
Please, take your time and tune in to BBC Radio 3 for this evening’s prom. Joshua Weilerstein conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Rebel’s “Les éléments – Le cahos” and Dusapin’s cello concerto “Outscape” that was written for tonight’s soloist, the conductor’s sister Alisa Weilerstein. In the second half, the orchestra will play Berlioz’s masterwork that was discussed in this article. Next time, we will be returning to Russia to discuss Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano concerto no. 1. Please like The Music World and feel free to comment on this and other entries of this blog.
The pioneer of the musique concrete genre, Pierre Henry, has passed away at the age of 89. He studied with Nadie Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen, but soon turned to music that was inspired by sounds that are produced by objects from the landscape, that is tape recordings, electronic sounds etc. He is probably best known for his work “Psyché Rock“, but here I want to present you something more Vareseesque, namely his 1973 composition “Prismes”. I hope that, although it is not pleasant for the ear, you will be able to appreciate it and will listen to more of his works. In fact, many people like The Beatles’ “Revolution 9”, but few know the composition would not be possible without the influence of Henry. Or, Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma, the Krautrock bands (Can, Amon Düül…) or the whole Rock in Opposition spectre…
Harriet Smithson
The Music World-See the entries 