symphonie fantastique op 14, fifth movement "songe d'une nuit de sabbat"

Question 1

Information

Answer 1

• demonstrates Berlioz’s youthful imagination and the romantic fascination with the supernatural and the bizarre
• mirrors the macabre plot
• program symphony, new genre in 19th century when composers merged the multi movement structure of the classical symphony with the descriptive nature of program music

Question 2

genre

Answer 2

program symphony

Question 3

composition date

Answer 3

1830

Question 4

translation of full title

Answer 4

fantastic symphony: episode in the life of an artist

Question 5

sources of inspiration

Answer 5

longstanding infatuation with actress Harriet Smithson; revolutionary climate of the time, including public executions; controversial literary works

Question 6

general program

Answer 6

a lovesick artist takes opium in an attempt to commit suicide; the drug, too weak to kill, puts him into a deep sleep; we glimpse his dreams and nightmares which are haunted by visions of his beloved (Harriet Smithson)

Question 7

performing forces

Answer 7

symphony orchestra (expanded)

Question 8

key

Answer 8

opens in c minor

Question 9

tempo

Answer 9

begins larghetto but later changes to allegro

Question 10

meter

Answer 10

begins in 4/4

Question 11

program

Answer 11

he sees himself at a witches sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come together for his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter, distant shouts which seem to be answered by more shouts. The beloved melody appears once more, but has now lost its noble and shy character; it is now no more than a vulgar dance tune, trivial and grotesque: it is she who is coming to the sabbath… roars of delight at her arrival… she joins the diabolical orgy… the funeral knell toals, burlesque parody of the dies irae, the dance of the witches. The dance of the witches combined with the dies irae.