Instrumental music that evokes extra-musical meaning—tells a story, suggests a scene, imitates nature, champions political ideals, etc.—is called program music. These works normally have a descriptive title, an accompanying poem and/or a program. Program music flourished in the Romantic era but isolated examples were written as early as the Baroque. For example, Vivaldi's Four Seasons used poetry, descriptive titles and imitated the sounds of bird song and storms.
The foremost French composer of the Romantic era, Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), was born in the mountains near Grenoble, the son of a physician. Dr. Berlioz wanted Hector to follow in his footsteps as a physician and, fearing he might become a musician, forbade the child from leaning piano because it was the instrument of "professionals." Instead, Hector received haphazard lessons on flute and guitar.
In 1821, Berlioz enrolled in medical school in Paris but was sicken by the dissection room. He shocked his parents by dropping out of medical school to pursue music. In 1826, at twenty-three, he entered the Paris Conservatory, distinguishing himself in composition. His innovative and unconventional style set him at odds with faculty, musicians and musical organizations of Paris. The French, unlike Germans and Austrians, were conservative and preferred the Classical style. While his progressive Romantic style made him revered in other parts of Europe, it left Berlioz somewhat scorned in his own country.
Prix de Rome
After being passed over several times in a prestigious composition competition, the Prix de Rome, Berlioz won it in 1830. Such a prize could be instrumental in kick-starting a young artist's career. While in studying in Rome, Berlioz heard that his fiancée, pianist Maria Moke, had ran off and married another man. He stormed out of Rome by stagecoach—fastest transport in the day—with pistols and poison to avenge the betrayal but changed his mind en route.
Prior to the engagement, Berlioz had been writing impassioned love letters to a famous Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson, whom he had not met. She ignored his letters, not knowing their fates would soon be intertwined.
Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe | Édouard Manet, 1832–1883 | Musée d’Orsay
Symphonie Fantastique
In 1830, Berlioz wrote his most famous and innovative work, Symphonie fantastique, an autobiographic program piece depicting his “endless and unquenchable passion” for Harriet Smithson:
If she could for one moment conceive all the poetry, all the infinity of love, she would fly into my arms.
Symphonie fantastique has five movements instead of the usual four movement format. Each movement has a narrative describing Berlioz’s hopes, dreams and love for Harriet Smithson. This work is substantial, taking nearly an hour to perform.
Reveries, Passions (15:20)
A Ball (5:58)
Scene in the Country (16:32)
March to the Scaffold (7:07)
Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath (9:30)
As the movements progress, he slips ever downward until, in an opium fueled rage, he murders her, is executed by beheading and drops into hell. He meets Harriet in hell where she dances at a witches' sabbath and participates in a "diabolical orgy." Leonard Bernstein explains it this way: "Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral (Leonard Bernstein, Young People's Concerts, Amadeus Press, 2006)."
Harriet Smithson, 1800–1854, the beloved, is represented by what Berlioz calls the idée fixe, fixed idea. The idée fixe is a melody that symbolizes an idea, place or person and, in this case, Harriet Smithson. The idée fixe is presented in each movement, transformed according to the narrative. Initially it sounds innocent and hopeful. By the fifth movement it is twisted and grotesque.
Idée fixe | Symphonie fantastique
Smithson missed the 1830 premier, but attended a performance of Symphonie fantastique in 1832. When she realized this work depicted her—“she felt the room reel about her; she heard no more but sat in a dream.” They met the next day and married the following year. It was not a happy marriage and they eventually separated. Berlioz took up with a young opera singer, Marie Recio, whom he married when Harriet died in 1854.
A Concert of Hector Berlioz | Andreas Geiger, 1765-1856 | The French press was hard on Berlioz and, ironically, he joined their ranks as a critic, a profession he despised. | L'Illustration, November 15, 1845
Scoring
Symphonie Fantastique is scored for a large orchestra of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, cornets, French horns, trombones, tubas, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals and full string section. Basically a string orchestra and brass band merged together, allowing tremendous dynamic range and timbre variation. Indeed, Berlioz is known for being among the greatest orchestrators of all time, and wrote a widely used textbook on orchestration.
March to the Scaffold
We'll focus on the fourth movement, March to the Scaffold. Here's a translation of the narrative from from Berlioz's 1845 program notes:
Convinced that his love is spurned, 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. 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.
The "final thought of love interrupted by the fatal blow" is the idée fixe is played by a lonely solo clarinet. The fall of the guillotine blade interrupts the idée fixe, symbolized by a fortissimo orchestra chord, and two pizzicato notes afterward depict the bounce of the severed head. The movement concludes with a powerful timpani roll and fortissimo orchestra chords.
Symphonie fantastique, IV.March to the Scaffold | Hector Berlioz (6:59)
Artistic Success
Richard Wagner characterized Berlioz as one of the world’s three greatest composers, the other two being himself and Liszt! Of course, Wagner's view was in hindsight. During his lifetime, much of the Parisian public considered Berlioz as a curiosity or, worse, a musical hack. The renowned Romantic composer, Felix Mendelssohn, commented on this matter:
“Berlioz makes me sad because he is really a cultured, agreeable man. And yet he composes so very badly.”
While Berlioz had the respect of other progressive composers across Europe, he enjoyed only mild success in his native France. Thus, Berlioz was forced to support himself as a music critic—a profession he despised—and as a librarian at the Paris Conservatory. Unlike composers like Liszt, Chopin and Beethoven, Berlioz was not a skilled instrumentalist: he could only play simple tunes on the flute and knew a bit of guitar. Subsequently, he couldn't supplement his income with performances beyond the rare conducting appearance.
It wasn't until two hundred years after the birth of Berlioz that his achievements were widely recognized and his music celebrated as serious and original for its time.
La dame aux éventails (1873) | Édouard Manet | Musée d’Orsay
Vocabulary
program music, Hector Berlioz, idée fixe, Harriet Smithson
France
College Years
Prix de Rome
March to the Scaffold
