Symphonie fantastique (Hector Berlioz)

Question 1

date

Answer 1

1830

Question 2

genre

Answer 2

program symphony

Question 3

performing forces

Answer 3

expanded symphony orchestra

Question 4

structure

Answer 4

5 movements

Question 5

plot summary

Answer 5

a lovesick artist takes opium in an attempt to commit suicide; the drug, too weak to kill him, puts him into a deep sleep. We glimpse his reams and nightmares which are haunted by visions of his beloved

Question 6

inspiration

Answer 6

longstanding infatuation with actress Harriet Smithson; revolutionary climate of the time, including public executions; controversial literary works

Question 7

idée fixe

Answer 7

“the beloved”

Question 8

1: name

Answer 8

Rêveries, Passions

Question 9

1: key

Answer 9

C minor, shifts to C major

Question 10

1: tempo

Answer 10

Largo, later becoming Allegro agitato e appassionato assai (at the idée fixe)

Question 11

1: time signature

Answer 11

C

Question 12

1: program

Answer 12

in his drugged stupor, the weary musician recalls the yearning and passion that his beloved ignited in him.

Question 13

1: idée fixe

Answer 13

introduced by the 1st violins and oboes

Question 14

2: name

Answer 14

Un bal

Question 15

2: key

Answer 15

A major

Question 16

2: tempo

Answer 16

Allegro non troppo

Question 17

2: time signature

Answer 17

3/8 (waltz)

Question 18

2: program

Answer 18

he dreams that he is attending a glittering ball, and glimpses his beloved

Question 19

2: instrumentation

Answer 19

oboe, english horn, and at least 4 harps?

Question 20

3: name

Answer 20

Scène aux champs

Question 21

3: key

Answer 21

F major

Question 22

3: tempo

Answer 22

adagio

Question 23

3: time signature

Answer 23

6/8

Question 24

3: program

Answer 24

he escapes to the countryside in search of tranquility. While he listens to the lonely piping of shepherds his thoughts return to the beloved and his soul is filled with foreboding

Question 25

3: instrumentation

Answer 25

oboe and english horn portray the shepherd’s lament

Question 26

4: name

Answer 26

March au supplice

Question 27

4: key

Answer 27

G minor

Question 28

4: tempo

Answer 28

allegretto non troppo

Question 29

4: time signature

Answer 29

C

Question 30

4: program

Answer 30

in a fit of passion he has killed his beloved and been sentenced to death. He is marched to the scaffold for his execution. As his head is laid on the chopping block, his last thought is of his beloved. That thought is interrupted by the fall of the blade, and his severed head tumbles to the ground

Question 31

4: intrumentation

Answer 31

pizzicatto strings (2 descending notes) to represent the head

Question 32

5: name

Answer 32

Songe d’une nuit de sabbat

Question 33

5: key

Answer 33

C minor, then E flat major (idée fixe), C minor (Dies irae), C major (dance)

Question 34

5: tempo

Answer 34

begins Larghetto but later changes to Allegro

Question 35

5: time signature

Answer 35

begins in 4/4

Question 36

5: program

Answer 36

he sees himself at a witches’ sabbath, in the midst of a horrible gathering for his funeral. His beloved arrives, and she joins the diabolical orgy. The funeral knell tolls, a burlesque parody of the Dies irae, combining with the dance of the witches.

Question 37

5: introduction mood

Answer 37

a strange and sinister setting: dissonance, tremolo strings, strange rhythms, ornaments (glissando flutes and oboe)

Question 38

5: transformation

Answer 38

thematic transformation: idée fixe sounds vulgar and grotesque

Question 39

5: foreshadowing

Answer 39

foreshadowing of the “dance of the witches” by cloches on tonic and dominant notes

Question 40

5: dance of the witches

Answer 40

fugal texture, mocking tone heightened by syncopated chords, jarring dissonance, col legno

Question 41

Characteristics of romanticism

Answer 41

1. Programmatic writing
2. chromatic harmonies and dissonance
3. Recurring themes (idée fixe)
4. Dramatic contrasts of dynamics and pitch
5. Expanded orchestra?

Question 42

Review and Reflection

Answer 42

cyclical structure, expanded dynamic range (more specific markings), expanded orchestra