What is the purpose of the idée fixe in symphonic fantastique?
The Idée Fixe of Symphonic Fantastique. While leitmotifs were a way to remind the audience of a particular person or object, sometimes prompting subtle connections or links between the action in the drama and the theme being played, the idée fixe was also a way for Berlioz to represent Harriet.
What is idée fixe in music?
The concept of idée fixe recurred in different guises in the work of later composers, most notably as “thematic transformations” in the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt and as leitmotifs in the operas of Richard Wagner. In literature, the term idée fixe is largely associated with the French novelist Honoré de Balzac, a contemporary of Berlioz.
What is the message of Symphonie fantastique?
Symphonie fantastique is an epic for a huge orchestra. Through its movements, it tells the story of an artist's self-destructive passion for a beautiful woman. The symphony describes his obsession and dreams, tantrums and moments of tenderness, and visions of suicide and murder, ecstasy and despair.
What does the idée fixe by Berlioz sound like?
The idée fixe sounds mellifluous and homophonic here, and our introduction to Harriet is soft and warm. Even within this movement, however, Berlioz experiences emotional change with respect to his feelings for this woman. At 7:41, the idée fixe is already presented differently.
What was the idée fixe?
idée fixe, (French: “fixed idea”) in music and literature, a recurring theme or character trait that serves as the structural foundation of a work. The term was later used in psychology to refer to an irrational obsession that so dominates an individual's thoughts as to determine his or her actions.
What is the idée fixe in Symphonie fantastique quizlet?
(d.) In Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, what is the idée fixe? In his Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz used a recurrent theme that he called the idée fixe, symbolizing the beloved.
Why does Berlioz use idée fixe?
In Symphonic Fantastique, Berlioz utilizes an idée fixe, a theme that appears in all five of his movements and lends unity to the piece as a whole. The change of the idée fixe is the means by which he communicates the plot to us.
Who does the idée fixe in Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique represent?
The idée fixe in Symphonie fantastique represents the English actress, Harriet Smithson.
In which movements does the idée fixe appear in Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique?
The idée fixe appears in every movement of Symphonie fantastique.
Which describes the idée fixe fixed idea in this excerpt from the ending of March to the Scaffold?
Which describes the idée fixe (fixed idea) in this excerpt from the ending of March to the Scaffold? It is interrupted by a loud chord.
Where does the idée fixe theme appear in movement 4?
IV. The idée fixe, a gentle clarinet solo, does not appear until just before fall of the blade of the guillotine (pp. 95-96).
What is an idée fixe?
Idée fixe, (French: “fixed idea”) in music and literature, a recurring theme or character trait that serves as the structural foundation of a work. The term was later used in psychology to refer to an irrational obsession that so dominates an individual's thoughts as to determine his or her actions.
What is Berlioz's theme?
In his Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz used a recurrent theme, which he called the idée fixe, symbolizing the beloved.
What is an idée fixe?
Idée fixe, (French: “fixed idea”) in music and literature, a recurring theme or character trait that serves as the structural foundation of a work. The term was later used in psychology to refer to an irrational obsession that so dominates an individual’s thoughts as to determine his or her actions. An outgrowth of Romanticism, the concept enjoyed ...
What is the theme of the symphonie fantastique?
Symphonie fantastiqueintroduces a structural idée fixe, a theme (representing his mistress? ) recurring throughout the five movements in various rhythmic forms, serving to unite the “scenes” musically as well as dramatically.…
What is the idée fixe of a central character?
Indeed, it is the idée fixe of a central character that is the vital, driving force behind many of Balzac’s narratives.
Where did the idea fixe come from?
The notion of idée fixe arose in France in the early 1800s. In music, it is traceable to the composer Hector Berlioz, who used the term to denote the recurring theme in his Symphonie fantastique: épisode de la vie d’un artiste(1830), a programmaticwork depicting the life of an artist; the theme represented the artist’s obsession with his beloved. Unlike most symphonies of the time, whose movements each were built from distinct themes, the Symphonie fantastiquewas marked by a persistent theme—the idée fixe—that surfaced in various forms in all five movements of the work, although not always as the main theme. The concept of idée fixe recurred in different guises in the work of later composers, most notably as “thematic transformations” in the symphonic poemsof Franz Lisztand as leitmotifsin the operasof Richard Wagner.
When did the idea of idée fixe come into existence?
The notion of idée fixe arose in France in the early 1800s.
Who wrote the theme for Harold en Italie?
This tendency culminated in the idée fixe(literally, “fixed idea”), or recurrent theme, of the French composer Hector Berlioz. In his Harold en Italie the theme returns each time in much the same form, but in the Symphonie fantastique it takes on a different character in each movement.…
What is the story of Symphonie Fantastique?
Symphonie fantastique is a piece of program music that tells the story of an artist gifted with a lively imagination who has poisoned himself with opium in the depths of despair because of hopeless, unrequited love. Berlioz provided his own preface and program notes for each movement of the work.
Who played the idée fixe in the middle of the movement?
Berlioz salvaged this theme from his abandoned Messe solennelle. The idée fixe returns in the middle of the movement, played by oboe and flute. The sound of distant thunder at the end of the movement is a striking passage for four timpani.
Why did Berlioz write the Symphonie fantastique?
When she left Paris in 1829, they had still not met. Berlioz then wrote Symphonie fantastique as a way to express his unrequited love. Harriet did not attend the premiere in 1830, but she heard the work in 1832 and realized Berlioz's genius.
How many movements are in the Symphonie fantastique?
If the symphony is performed on its own as a concert piece this arrangement is no longer necessary: one may even dispense with distributing the programme and keep only the title of the five movements. The author hopes that the symphony provides on its own sufficient musical interest independently of any dramatic intention.
How many movements are there in the symphony?
The symphony has five movements, instead of four as was conventional for symphonies of the time: "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" (Dream of a Witches' Sabbath) – C minor/C major. Each movement depicts an episode in the protagonist's life that is described by Berlioz in the program notes to the 1845 score.
What was the composer's intention in the score of the first score?
In the first score from 1845, he writes: The composer's intention has been to develop various episodes in the life of an artist, in so far as they lend themselves to musical treatment. As the work cannot rely on the assistance of speech, the plan of the instrumental drama needs to be set out in advance.
Who wrote the symphony "Fantastical Symphony"?
14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period. The first performance was at the Paris Conservatoire on 5 December 1830. Franz Liszt made a piano transcription of the symphony in 1833 (S. 470).
Summary
Symphonie fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un artiste … en cinq parties (Fantastical Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections) Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period. The first performance was at the Paris Conservatoire on 5 December 1830. Franz Liszt made a piano transcrip…
Overview
Symphonie fantastique is a piece of program music that tells the story of an artist gifted with a lively imagination who has poisoned himself with opium in the depths of despair because of hopeless, unrequited love. Berlioz provided his own preface and program notes for each movement of the work. They exist in two principal versions – one from 1845 in the first score of the work and the s…
Instrumentation
The score calls for an orchestra of about 90 musicians:
Berlioz specified at least 15 1st violins, 15 2nd violins, 10 violas, 11 celli and 9 basses on the score.
Berlioz originally wrote for 1 serpent and one ophicleide, but quickly switched to two ophicleides after the serpent proved to be difficult to use.
Movements
The symphony has five movements, instead of four as was conventional for symphonies of the time:
1. "Rêveries – Passions" (Daydreams – Passions) – C minor/C major
2. "Un bal" (A Ball) – A major
3. "Scène aux champs" (Scene in the Fields) – F major
Sources
• Holoman, D. Kern, Berlioz (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1989). ISBN 0-674-06778-9.
• Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-19-866212-2.
• Wright, Craig, "The Essential Listening to Music" (Schirmer, Cengage Learning 2013). ISBN 978-1-111-34202-9.
External links
• Symphonie fantastique on the Hector Berlioz Website, with links to Scorch full score and program note written by the composer.
• Symphonie fantastique: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Keeping Score: Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, multimedia website with interactive score produced by the San Francisco Symphony