Symphonie Fantastique Flashcards
Berlioz
Instrumentation
Imaginative orchestration for its time. -> Gives much independence to the woodwind section
Written for the whole orchestra (unusual)
Rhythm in the opening
Quaver triplets (played by clarinets and flutes)
The quaver triplets play the…
Dominant note (G)
Throughout the piece you have (harmony)
Suspensions and resolutions
What is the texture in the very opening
Chordal homophony
Time signature
4
4
The tempo… (b.2 -17)
Starts slow (largo), and then becomes more lively
The strings play with…
Mute
Rhythms you encounter in the piece
Triplets
Sextuplets
Cross rhythms
Dotted quavers
Lombardic rhythms
However, you mainly have crotchets and quavers
Harmony
Diatonic - but, moments with chromaticism (i.e. diminished 7ths)
Functional
In b. 11, (violins), you have a leap of an…
Octave
In bar 5, you have an interval of a…in the 1st violins
Minor 6ths
How can you identify |B| in the score (b. 17)
The violins have a really fast, sextuplet, semiquaver run
In |B|, the music changes to which key
C major (?)
What is the chord playing in b. 2
C minor chord
When the violins play |B| (the super fast scale), where do they play in terms of the bow…
Tip
In b. 21 (just after the fast semiquaver passage has ended), describe the melody in terms of notes
Triads
Broken chords
The sextuplets in |C| are used to…
Sweep up to the 3rd beat of the bar. (Add momentum)
In b. 29 (|D|), what is occurring in terms of rhythm
Cross rhythms
How can |D| be identified
Dolce marking
(p dynamics)
In b. 30 (|D|), what is produced (think about what the flutes are doing)
Flutes are playing ascending and descending arpeggios, therefore, produce countermelodies
In |D|, when the flutes are playing ascending and descending scales, what are the violins doing (performance technique)
Tremolo
Texture…throughout
Varies
Think about, monophonic, polyphonic, countermelodies, homorhythmic, homophonic…
In section E, something happens between the instruments, what is occuring
Dialogue between the violins and cellos of the phrase the violins have been playing constantly (the one with the octave leap)
How can we identify |E|
The cellos and double basses are playing rocking sextuplet octaves 1 bar before |E|
In b. 42 (easily identified by the woodwind family dropping out and the syncopation occurring in the violins), the key is now…
Ab major
What is happening in the strings in b. 43-45 (rhythm)
Syncopation
In b. 45, what is happening in terms of harmony in the cellos and double basses
Really long tonic pedal note (Ab)
How is |F| identified
By the trills in the violins that are then followed by broken chords / arpeggios
What is happening in terms of harmony in b. 56 (|F|)
Chromaticism
In b. 61 (when all the instruments are playing a chord), what performance techniques are the violins doing
Tremolo
Divisi
In b. 61 (when all the instruments are playing a chord), we are now moving to the key of…
C major
B. 63, after the chord being played, describe the accompaniment
On/off beat accompaniment
The viola…
Plays arpeggio figures and sometimes plays in unison with the violin 1s
Dynamics
Large range
(ff->pp suddenly / gradually)
In |H|, the section before the Ideé fixe is heard, what is the texture and time signature
Homophonic
2
2 (faster)
Describe |H| in terms of rests
Lots of rests - producing uncertainty
What else produces uncertainty in |H|
The arco and pizz combinations
When the idee fixe starts what section is it
The exposition (|I|)
How does the idee fixe start
Anacrusis
Which instruments play the idee fixe
Flutes and violins play in unison
What key are we in when the idee fixe is heard
C major
Describe the melody of the idee fixe
Ascends in pitch and then descends
Manheim sigh influence
Melody is often…because of…(harmony)
Chromatic
Passing modulations
Which cadence is used regularly
Perfect cadences
In b. 111, starting |K|, after the perfect cadence, what are the violas, 2nd violins and cellos doing
Playing a vibrant ascending scale which then descends into broken chords
The cellos are often playing…(performance technique)
Double stopping
In b. 124, before |L|, what is played in terms of harmony
4-3 suspension
In b.133 |M|, what key are we in (again)
Ab major
To build suspense, or to mimic the heartbeat, Berlioz…
Repeats the same note
The second subject appears briefly in…
b. 150 (|O|)
G MAJOR
After the second subject appears (briefly in b. 150), what key do we move into in b. 156
E minor
The development section (b. 168) is identified by…
The idee fixe appearing in the cellos and double basses
In the development section, the cellos, violas and doubles basses play the idee fixe, what is happening in the 2nd violin parts
Play in octaves
How does the exposition end
With octaves on a G (dominant of C)
Play a V7 chord
What key are we in in the development section
G major
In the development section, there is a…followed by repetitive…
Ascending passage
Ascending melodies
The 2nd subject is played by the…in b. 189
Woodwind section
The woodwinds and strings…
Imitate each other
What is the tempo marking in the ascending chromatic crescendoing scale in |S| (b. 196)
Moto perpetuo crotchets
Before the silence, what happens in terms of rhythm
Syncopation
What is the dynamic marking leading into the 3 bars of silence
Crescendo to ff
(Dramatic)
How can we identify the recapitulation section
Long sustained dominant pedal in the horns
Structure of the piece
Sonata form
Expo
Develop
Recap
Coda
During the recapitulation section (identified by the long sustained note in the horns), what are the violins playing
Repeated rising 4ths
In the recapitulation section, what key are we in and give AO4
G major idee fixe
(Breaks the traditional sonata form)
Wider listening for descending appoggiatura scales in the strings (recap.)
Rosini
In the recapitulation, the second subject appears in the…but is passed in…through the…
Cellos
Imitation
Strings (violins)
How is the coda introduced
By Manheim roller technique on tonic in the timpani
How does the timpani play the drum rolls in the coda
Using sponge heads
In the coda, the violins play a melody based upon…
B. 119
In the coda (|E1|), the melody becomes more lyrical because
It has fragments of the idee fixe playing against a song like theme in the oboe
The accompaniment (double bass) in the coda mainly consists of…(rhythm and performance technique) to produce an…atmosphere
Crotchet triplets and pizz in the double bass
Unsettling atmosphere (chromatic as well)
When the idee fixe is played by the full orchestra, the dynamic marking is
ff
Towards the end of the coda, passages are more (rhythm)
Syncopated -> urgency
Repeated quavers in strings
Accented off beats
The oboe then (tempo marking) in the coda as it…
Rit poco a poco
Slowly descends chromatically (>)
Before the chordal texture at the end of the piece, the idee fixe appears again in the 1st violins in…(key)
C major
The performance marking at the end of the piece is..
Religiosamente
Texture at the end of the piece
Chordal homophony / (homorhythmic)
A cadence is repeated multiple times at the end of the piece. What is it?
Plagal cadence in pp
Final section feel symmetrical because…
It ends largo (same way it started largo)
Final chord of the sonata
C major
