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1 results

  • 7 - Fourth Movement

  • Julian Rushton, University of Leeds
  • Book:
    Berlioz: <i>Symphonie Fantastique</i>
    Published online:
    30 November 2023
    Print publication:
    30 November 2023, pp 87-93

  • Summary

    In his original programme, Berlioz called the last two movements a dream – or nightmare. Despairing of the chances of a production of his opera Les Francs-juges, he took from it a ferocious ‘Marche des gardes’ – soldiers who, in the opera, are obedient to a tyrant. The orchestra is enlarged by additional brass (trombones and ophicleide or tuba) and percussion. The main theme is presented in many guises, with much harmonic and instrumental originality. To fit the March into the symphony Berlioz added a recollection of the idée fixe at the end, where the image of the beloved woman is brutally cut off; interrupted as the protagonist dreams of his own execution by guillotine.