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H. Berlioz - Coggle Diagram
H. Berlioz
About composer
French composer 🇫🇷
Impact on music
Known as the 'Father of Orchestration'
Crucial figure in development of
Romantic music
Used large scale orchestras - unconventional for the time
More variety of instruments & performance techniques
Lack of piano training helped save him "from the tyranny of keyboard habits"
Was therefore more experimental and didn't often stick to "conventional harmonies"
Other key works include:
'Harold in Italy':
A symphony for viola and orchestra
'Grand Messe des Morts':
Large-scale chordal work
'Benvenuto Cellini'
and
'Les Troyens':
Operas
Education
Mostly self-taught
Learnt guitar & flute but did NOT formerly learn piano
Left medical studies and pursued career in composition -
Paris Conservatoire
Inspired by Beethoven's compositions
Had a passion for literature
Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
Example of
programme music:
Instrumental music that aims to depict a specific narrative, idea or emotion
SF tells the story of a tortured artist poisoning himself because of hopeless love
Use of
idée fixe:
A recurring theme that acts as the structural foundation of the piece
SF is
5
movements long instead of the usual 4
The piece is
autobiographical
Represents his unreciprocated love with actress Harriet Smithson
Wider Listening
Beethoven
Major influence on Berlioz's work --> Pioneer of symphony formed used by Berlioz
Long codas (symphony No.5)
Harold in Italy
- Berlioz
Romeo & Juliet
- Tchiakovsky
Variety of themes to represent different moods
(e.g: violence & love)
Love theme appears at the end in a
minor key
(represent death) - sim. Berlioz ending SF
Large orchestra with unusual scoring
Use if idee fixe to represent Harold
Lower strings have repeated bass notes
Mostly diatonic and functional harmony - occasional chromaticism
Les Preludes
- Liszt
Symphony No.7
- Mahler
Manfred Symphony
- Tchaikovsky
Psychological torment
Storyline
Huge emotional swings
Dark orchestral color
Inspired by a story/play/poem
Themes are repeated and varied
Large orchestra
Harmony & structured also inspired by Beethoven