Hector Berlioz Flashcards
1
Q
Information About Him (15)
A
- (1803-1869)
- born near Lyon, France
- father was a doctor
- took music lessons as a child
- sent to Paris to study medicine, but didn’t like it
- switched to Paris Conservatory
- won the Prix de Rome
- in 1830, his career was launched with Symphonie fantastique
- became friends with Liszt
- met actress Harriet Smithson and later married her
- had a son named Louis
- traveled as a conductor
- was a composer and writer
- received the Légion d’honneur
- in 1844, left his wife and met singer Marie Recio but didn’t marry her until Harriet died
2
Q
His Style and Contributions (9)
A
- was an innovative orchestrator by expanding the orchestra and adding new effects
- wrote program music
- chromatic harmony
- program symphonies: Symphonie fantastique, Harold in Italy, Romeo and Juliet
- concert overtures: Waverley, Rob Roy, Le Corsair, King Lear
- song cycle: Les nuits d’été
- operas: Les Troyens, Béatrice et Bénédict, Benvenuto Cellini
- choral works: La damnation de Faust, Te Deum, Requiem
- oratorio: L’enfance du Christ
3
Q
Important Work: Symphonie Fantastique (3)
A
- subtitled (in English): “Episode in the Life of an Artist”
- program is a lovesick artist who takes opium and has hallucinations
- five movements
4
Q
First Movement of Symphonie Fantastique (4)
A
- “Reveries, Passions”
- in C minor and C major
- slow and then fast
- introduces idée fixe which represents the artist’s beloved
5
Q
Second Movement of Symphonie Fantastique (5)
A
- “A Ball”
- in A major
- allegro
- in 3/8 time
- artist sees his beloved at a dance
6
Q
Third Movement of Symphonie Fantastique (5)
A
- “Scene in the Fields”
- in F major
- slow
- in 6/8 time
- artist is in the countryside and is thinking of his beloved, hears shepherds
7
Q
Fourth Movement of Symphonie Fantastique (5)
A
- “March to the Scaffold”
- in G minor
- allegretto
- in 4/4 time
- artist dreams he killed his beloved and is being executed
8
Q
Fifth Movement of Symphonie Fantastique (16)
A
- “Dream of a Witch’s Sabbath”
- in C minor
- slow and then fast
- in 4/4 time but then in 6/8
- at a witch’s Sabbath, monsters and witches around (Halloween)
- new key: E-flat major
- idée fixe is played by clarinet in 6/8 time with trills and grace notes to represent his beloved as a witch
- example of thematic transformation
- bells
- melody from Dies irae is heard by the bassoons and ophicléide
- “Dance of the Witches”:
- in C major
- in 6/8 time
- has fugal texture
- combines the Dies irae theme and the witches’ dance
- col legno effect used