Berlioz’s powerful, poetic music sets visions whirling of wandering poets, enchanting women, shepherds, an execution procession and witches.
Both Symphonie fantastique (1830) and Harold in Italy (1842) trace a musical journey from reverie to wild finale.The initial suggestion to write a work for solo viola came from the great violinist Paganini. Inspired by Byron’s 1812 poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Berlioz created “a series of orchestral scenes” in which the solo viola plays a “melancholic dreamer”.
Symphonie fantastique was Berlioz’s first real success making him, not unlike Byron, an overnight sensation. Whilst his own unrequited love for an Irish actress made for a gratifyingly debauched programme, the piece also owes its enduring reputation to Berlioz’s radical handling of musical ideas and instrumental forces.
