Transcript Chapter 53 Music in Paris Under Louis Philippe: Berlioz and Chopin

Chapter 53
Music in Paris Under Louis Philippe:
Berlioz and Chopin
Lecture Overview
• Paris vs. Vienna in the early 19th century
• Hector Berlioz
– life and music
– Symphonie fantastique, movement 4 (“March to the
Scaffold”)
• History of the piano and pianism 1800-1850
• Frédéric Chopin:
– life and music
– Nocturne in Db, Op. 27, No. 2
• Review
Paris: The July Revolution (1830)
Delacroix, “Liberty Leading the People”
The subject of this famous painting by Eugène Delacroix is the July
Revolution in Paris in 1830, when the French king Charles X was
deposed. Our eyes are drawn to the female figure at the top, who
symbolizes liberty and strides fearlessly forward. The tone of the
picture is filled with energy and emotion, which were qualities also
found in French music of the same time.
The Life of Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
• 1803 born near Grenoble to the family of a doctor
• 1821 arrives in Paris to study medicine; changes
to music
• 1830 completes Symphonie fantastique, wins the
Prix de Rome
• 1830s becomes a journalist, writes for several
Parisian papers and journals
• 1840 composes the songs of Les nuits d’été
• 1840s tours Germany conducting his music
• 1869 dies in Paris
Principal Compositions of Hector Berlioz
• Orchestra: concert overtures; programmatic symphonies
including:
– Symphonie fantastique
– Romeo and Juliet
– Harold in Italy
• Operas: including
– Benvenuto Cellini
– The Trojans
– Béatrice et Bénédict
• Chorus: works including
– The Damnation of Faust
– L’enfance du Christ
– Requiem Mass
• Songs: Les nuits d’été (6 songs on poetry by Théophile
Gautier)
• Writings: Memoirs, essays collected as Evenings in the
Orchestra and A travers chants
Symphonie fantastique (1830): The Program
1. Reveries – Passions. A young musician sees the
ideal woman and suffers fitful passions
2. A Ball. The obsessive thought of the beloved
returns to him at a ball
3. Scene in the Country. Even the countryside cannot
allay his passion; he suffers doubts about her
4. March to the Scaffold. In a nightmare he believes
that he has murdered her, and he is now to be
guillotined for his crime. The blade falls. . .
5. Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath. He awakens in hell,
taunted by witches, and he sees the beloved among
them
How Orchestral Music Tells the Story of
Symphonie fantastique
• themes used to symbolize characters in the program
• quotations of pre-existing music
• instruments used to suggest characters and
situations
• instruments imitate natural sounds
• musical genres (the march, the waltz) brought in as
suggested by the program
• deployment of conventional musical elements
(mode, tempo, character)
Hector Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, 1830,
movement 4 (“March to the Scaffold”)
Irregular sonata form
Hector Berlioz, Les nuits d’été,
“Absence,” 1840
Rondo-like form
The Life of Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
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1810 born in Poland, grows up in Warsaw
1827–31 tours Europe as piano virtuoso
1831 settles in Paris
1837 affair with French writer George Sand
1847 breaks up with Sand, health declines
(tuberculosis)
• 1848 visits London and Scotland to concertize
• 1849 dies in Paris
Chopin’s Principal Compositions
• Piano character pieces including
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ballades
nocturnes
études
scherzos
preludes
polonaises
mazurkas
impromptus
• Sonatas for piano (3) and for cello-piano (1)
• Piano concertos (2)
• Songs (most in Polish)
Frédéric Chopin, Nocturne in Db Major,
Op. 27, No. 2, 1835
Free rondo form
Review Key Terms
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Louis Philippe
July Revolution
grand opera
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Eugène Scribe
double escapement
action
recital
Prix de Rome
concert overture
programmatic
symphony
• idée fixe
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cyclicism
ophicleide
song collection
romance (type of
song)
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mélodie
George Sand
mazurka
nocturne
étude