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BERLIOZ CONTEXT - Coggle Diagram
BERLIOZ CONTEXT
BACKGROUND
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wrote on a very large scale - increased size of orchestra - very innovative towards orchestration, harmony + melodies
began studying music at 12 - but did not learn the piano - he described this as beneficial + detrimental to his career
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at 18, he went to Paris to study medicine - he had no interest for it
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he became familiar with Beethoven's symphonies, string quartets + piano sonatas at the school - this significantly inspired his compositions
wrote large scale chorale works as well - 'Grand Messe des Morts (Requiem)' + operas - ' Benvenuto Cellini'
he also wrote a book called 'Treatise on Instrumentation' - had large impact on the development of orchestral music throughout the Romantic period
SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE
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programme music - tells the story of a talented artists with an alive imagination who poisens himself with opium due to depression from his hopeless love
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‘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.
The following programme must therefore be considered as the spoken text of an opera,
which serves to introduce musical movements and to motivate their character and
expression.’
the symphony was highly original in its time - due to how it approaches melody, rhythms, harmony + Berlioz's ability to express emotion + drama through music so seamlessly
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he claims the piece to be an autobiography - represents his love + obsession for actress Harriet Smithson
5 Movements -
- Rêveries – Passions (Reveries – Passions)
- Un bal (A Ball)
- Scène aux champs (Scene in the Fields)
- Marche au supplice (March to the Scaffold)
- Songe d’une nuit du sabbat (Dream of the Night of the Sabbath)