In_What_Aspects_Berlioz's_Symphonie_Fantastique_Is_Influential_to_the_Development_of_Music_in_the_Romantic_Era_

In What Aspects Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique is Influential to the Development of Music in the Romantic Era' by Wong Shing Yu (08691051) Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique is influential to the development of music in the Romantic era in three aspects. The first is the use of the signature motive “idée fixe”. Berlioz wrote in his essay “De l’imitation musicale”: The aim of the second kind of imitation, as we have said before, is to reproduce the intonations of the passions and the emotions, and even to trace a musical image, or metaphor, of objects that can only be seen.[1] Although thematic materials are already observed in Beethoven’s “Pastoral” 6th, Berlioz’s procedure is dictated by poetical as well as musical consideration. It leads directly to Liszt’s practice in his symphonic poems. It precedes Wagner’s use of musical “leitmotifs” to depict characters and ideas in his operas. Julian Rushton wrote in his book: Symphonie Fantastique, virtually quoted at the start of the ‘Mephistopheles’ movement in Liszt’s Faust Symphony, has an assured place in the history of the programmatic invasion of the concert repertoire by the theatrical and the subjective.[2] The second aspect is the use of Dies Irae melody. In many of musical works of the Romantic era such as Mahler’s first symphony, Liszt’s Totentanz – Paraphrase on “Dies irae” and Saint-Saens’s Danse Macabre, the Dies Irae theme from the fifth movement of Symphonie Fantastique is being used as a frequent quotation or homage to Berlioz. From the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musician, it is said: Since Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (1830), a rich and productive symbolism has grown up round the ancient melody, embracing not only death and the fear of death, but also the supernatural (Saint-Saens’s Danse Macabre, 1874).[3] The third aspect is the novel instrumentation. It was after Symphonie Fantastique when the use of harps, cornets, ophicleides became more often. The impact can also be seen in Berlioz’s introduction of numerous innovative instrument-playing methods – an off-stage oboe to imply distance, violins played with the wood of their bows to invoke terror, and a strikingly modern minimalist passage of chords for four solo tympani to suggest echoing thunder. Also important is Berlioz’s specificity of instructions – when to use mallets of different heads for drums, when to place and remove mutes, all notated on the score. Quoted from the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musician: The influence of his orchestration has been immense, directly upon Liszt, Wagner, the Russians, Strauss and Mahler, but more profoundly by his emancipation of the procedure of orchestration.[4] To conclude, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique had significant impact on the development of program music, modern orchestration and use of music materials (Dies irae) in the Romantic era. Bibliography 1. Erin Brooks, 2003. The Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”) and the Totentanz (“Dance of Death”): Medieval Themes Revisited in 19th Century Music and Culture. University of Arkansas. 2. Stephen Rodgers, 2009. Form, Program, and Metaphor in the Music of Berlioz. New York: Cambridge University Press. 3. Stanley Sadie, 2001. Berlioz, Hector, s20: Standing and Research, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol.3. Oxford University Press. 4. Stanley Sadie, 2001. Instrumentation and Orchestration, s4: 19th Century, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol.12. Oxford University Press. 5. Peter Gutmann, 2002. Classical Notes, Symphonie Fantastique. www.classicalnotes.net/classics/berliozsym.html. Accessed on 19/04/09. ----------------------- [1] Onpedia. Symphonie Fantastique. . [2] Julian Rushton, 2001. The Music of Berlioz, p.340. Oxford University Press. [3] Stanley Sadie, 2001. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol.7, p.332. Oxford University Press. [4] Stanley Sadie, 2001. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol.3, p.406. Oxford University Press.