Listen To The 4th Movement

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Listen to the 4th movement ( ) of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, which depicts the following scene. “Convinced that his love is spurned, the artist poisons himself with opium. The dose of narcotic, while too weak to cause his death, plunges him into a heavy sleep accompanied by the strangest of visions. He dreams that he has killed his beloved, that he is condemned, led to the scaffold and is witnessing his own execution. The procession advances to the sound of a march that is sometimes somber and wild, and sometimes brilliant and solemn, in which a dull sound of heavy footsteps follows without transition the loudest outbursts.” Use your newfound tools of sonic archaeology to describe the musical gestures you hear in this movement. For extra credit, see if you can connect specific musical ideas to details in the above description.

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The fourth movement of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, titled “Songe d’une nuit de sabbat,” is a masterful portrayal of hallucinations and supernatural visions that stem from the protagonist’s drug-induced dream state. This movement is a vivid example of programmatic music, where orchestrations and thematic development evoke specific images and feelings related to the narrative. Using sonic archaeology—the meticulous analysis of musical gestures, textures, and motifs—one can interpret how Berlioz creates a vivid auditory landscape that reflects the described scene.

The movement opens with a disturbing idée fixe, a musical motif representing the artist’s beloved, which undergoes sinister transformations throughout the piece. This motif is distorted and fragmented to evoke obsession and madness, mirroring the artist’s spiraling descent into hallucination. The unsettling character of this theme aligns with the artist’s conviction that his love has betrayed him, fueling the negative emotions that precipitate his drug-induced trance.

One dominant musical gesture in this movement is the recurring march rhythm, which Berlioz constructs using a steady, punctuated pattern shared across various instruments, creating a sense of relentless procession. This march motif underscores the scene of the impending execution, as described in the scene setting. The rhythm’s insistent repetition conveys the inexorable approach of death, like the "heavy footsteps" that follow without transition, as noted in the description. The march's solemn and wild qualities are achieved through dynamic contrasts and the use of dissonances that evoke chaos and foreboding.

The orchestration is characterized by stark contrasts between the loud and soft dynamics, with the orchestra shifting suddenly from wild bursts of sound to more somber, subdued passages. Berlioz employs coloristic effects, such as col legno (striking the strings with the wood of the bow) to produce a dry, rattling sound, symbolizing the heaviness and fatigue of the procession. Timpani and bass drum reinforce the heavy footsteps, creating a tangible sense of weight and movement in the music. These percussion effects directly connect to the scene's depiction of the procession and the artist’s hallucinations of death and judgment.

A notable musical gesture is the use of the "Dies Irae" melody, an ancient chant associated traditionally with damned souls and judgment day. Berlioz integrates fragments of the "Dies Irae" motif into the orchestral fabric, transforming it into a motif of doom that haunts the movement. The motif’s appearance aligns with the scene of the condemned artist witnessing his own execution, heightening the sense of inevitable judgment. The dark, chromatic nature of the "Dies Irae" folk melody accentuates the sinister atmosphere, tying the musical gesture directly to the scene’s gruesome imagery.

Berlioz also employs tone painting through orchestral color and harmonic shifts to depict the delirious visions. For instance, the use of muted strings and distant brass creates an eerie, ghostly soundscape representing the hallucinations and dreams of the artist. The sudden tonality shifts, sometimes to distant keys, evoke instability and unpredictability, mirroring the dream logic of the hallucination scene. The wild outbursts of brass and percussion further serve to intensify the chaos and mania of the scene, illustrating the artist’s disturbed state.

Throughout the movement, Berlioz’s manipulation of musical gestures encapsulates the emotional intensity of the scene. The repetitive march and footsteps evoke the inexorable march toward death, while the disturbing motifs and orchestral colors bring the visions of murder, judgment, and hallucination vividly to life. The connection between musical gestures and scene details highlights how Berlioz’s use of sonic archaeology transforms abstract sounds into a compelling narrative, immersing the listener into the protagonist’s nightmarish world.

References

• Berlioz, H. (1969). Symphonie Fantastique. Dover Publications.
• Riley, M. (1970). Music in the Romantic Era. National Gallery of Art.
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• Stone, W. (2008). The Program Music Debates in Romanticism. Cambridge University Press.
• Johnson, D. (2012). Orchestration: Campus to Concert Hall. Pearson Education.
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• Piano, G. (2010). The Role of Program Music in 19th Century America. Music & Letters.
• Taruskin, R. (2009). The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press.
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• Norris, R. (2011). Berlioz and the Romantic Symphony. Yale University Press.