Symphonie fantastique

The Symphonie fantastique - Episode de la vie d'un artiste ( " Symphonie Fantastique - episodes from the life of an artist " ) (Op. 14) is a programmatic musical work of Hector Berlioz. It is regarded as a significant work of symphonic poem and one of the most important pieces of Romantic music in general. The Tsar Nicholas I of Russia dedicated work was premiered on December 5, 1830 under the leadership of François- Antoine Habeneck at the Conservatoire de Paris. The counterpart is then written Lélio ou Le retour à la vie op 14b, a " Monodrame lyrique " ( 1831-32/1855 ).

With the 1830 incurred Symphonie fantastique Berlioz entered uncharted territory, where he anknüpfte to Beethoven's 6th Symphony (1808 ). Berlioz called his work explicitly as drame musical ( " musical drama " ) and it is divided logically into five sets analogous to the five acts of the classic drama. The leitmotif ( idée fixe), the motif of the lover is, in the sets, the individual scenes are associated with processed:

Rates and program

The work to which Berlioz a program as an illustration ( here shortened thick) were annexed, shows autobiographical references: The lover was the Irish actress Harriet Smithson († 1854), in which Berlioz had fallen in love, him but initially rejected - the whole work so between adoration and revenge? But Hector Berlioz and Harriet Smithson were married in October 1833 in Paris.

The use of the idée fixe that already practiced before Carl Maria von Weber in his operas, had great influence on the music of Romanticism, in particular Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. Franz Liszt made ​​a piano transcription of the work here.

Orchestra

What was new was the drama, which was reinforced by advanced orchestration. The orchestral scoring of the work is as follows:

  • 2 flutes (2nd flute and piccolo )
  • 2 Oboes (2nd also English Horn )
  • 2 clarinets in C, A, B and Es
  • 4 bassoons
  • 4 horns in C, Eb, E, F and B deep
  • 2 cornets in A and B
  • 2 trumpets in B and C
  • 3 Trombones
  • 2 Ophikleiden
  • 2 harps
  • Timpani ( up to 4 players required!)
  • Bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, 2 bells in C and G
  • Strings in ordinary Cast ( first and second violins, violas, cellos, double basses ), 1st and 2nd violins, however, partly jew 3-fold split, violas, cellos and double basses jew 2-fold
Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven) Tone cluster Piano reduction
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