Composers › Hector Berlioz › Programme note
Three movements from Roméo et Juliette
Gerald Larner wrote 2 versions of differing length — choose one below.
Roméo seul - Tristesse - Concert et Bal: Grande Fête chez Capulet
Scène d’amour
Scherzo: La reine Mab, ou la fée des songes
The story of Berlioz’s relationship with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whose Ophelia and Juliet so enchanted him in Paris in 1827 and who became his wife six years later, would not be out of place among the most extravagant examples of sentimental fiction. It was more than just a romantic episode in the composer’s life, however. The whole experience - the “thunderbolt” discovery of Shakespeare by way of the Charles Kemble company’s productions (in English) at the Théâtre de l’Odéon, the passion aroused in him by the pathos of Ophelia and Juliet, his projection of their poetic aura onto the actress who so beautifully embodied them - was a significant event from every biographical and musical point of view. Next to his reverence for the Beethoven symphonies, it was one of the most profoundly formative factors in Berlioz’s artistic development.
Berlioz had been planning some kind of musical realization of the Romeo and Juliet theme for a long time, probably since he first saw the play. But other major projects intervened and it wasn’t until 1839 that he was able to apply himself wholeheartedly to the project. The immediate stimulus was a gift of 20,000 francs from Paganini, who had commissioned Harold en Italie in 1834 but had rejected it and had realised what a great work it was only when he first heard it in Paris at the end of 1838. This subvention of conscience money set Berlioz free from other worries and, starting with Roméo seul in January 1839, he completed his “dramatic symphony” less than eight months later.
Fortunately perhaps, the question of Berlioz’s wisdom in casting his interpretation of Romeo and Juliet as a kind of choral symphony, modelled to some extent on Beethoven’s Ninth, need not concern us on this occasion. The three movements selected for this performance, as for many others, are the central, purely orchestral ones representing, respectively, the first movement, slow movement and scherzo of the conventional symphony.
The first extract, a symphonic Allegro with a slow introduction, finds Romeo alone at first and, according to the tempo direction (Andante malinconico e sostenuto) in melancholy mood. There is no equivalent for this episode in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: like several other apparent anomalies in Berlioz’s account of the story, it derives from the Garrick version of the play that the Kemble company presented in Paris in 1827. In this case Romeo’s adolescent fantasies are not fixed on “fair Rosaline” (Juliet’s predecessor in his affections, according to Shakespeare) but are wandering unfocused - as is so vividly indicated by the unaccompanied violin line, uncertain in metre and tonality, in the opening bars.
A vague anticipation of the beginning of Tristan und Isolde - the 26-year-old Richard Wagner was in the audience at the first performance of Roméo et Juliette at the Paris Conservatoire - the tentative violin line gives way to a more firmly defined woodwind theme. After a fairly brief and distant pre-echo of the Capulet festivities, the tempo drops to Larghetto espressivo for an even more poetic melody on oboe. The ball itself is a brilliant episode of lively dance music which is combined at its climax with Romeo’s oboe melody stoutly sustained on woodwind and brass. A later, more intimate allusion to the oboe melody suggests that Romeo has seen Juliet and that the fatal attraction is initiated.
The Scène d’amour, the equivalent to Shakespeare’s balcony scene, is the most eloquent vindication of Berlioz’s contention that “instrumental language is richer, more varied, less restricted” than vocal word-setting and “incomparably more potent.” It is a “serene night in the silent and deserted garden of the Capulet’s house,” as we hear in the magically atmospheric introduction. The protagonists are Romeo, represented by an ardent melody on horn and cellos, and Juliet, represented - after Romeo’s cello recitative and some initial indications of alarm - by a radiant inspiration on flute and cor anglais. Neither of these is presented as the main theme, however: the rondo shape assumed by the movement from this point on is based on a symbolic and highly melodious combination of features from both the Romeo and the Juliet themes. Surely the greatest of Berlioz’s slow movements, this Adagio clearly owes much to Beethoven but just as clearly anticipates both Wagner and Tchaikovsky.
Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech -
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone -
occupies no more than forty lines in Shakespeare’s text and, for all its verbal virtuosity, is not an essential item in the story. As material for a symphonic scherzo on the other hand, it was irresistible: Berlioz had drawn the passage to Mendelssohn’s attention as long as eight years earlier and had regretted it ever since, fearing that the master of the elfin scherzo would get in first. Berlioz’s La Reine Mab, a Prestissimo “as thin of substance as the air,” obviously owes much to Mendelssohn but, like the Scène d’amour, it also looks forwards - as far at least as the last act of Verdi’s Falstaff: Windsor Forest at midnight echoes with memories of Berlioz’s exquisitely scored scherzo, the poetic Allegretto nocturne in the middle no less then the hyperactive and slightly sinister outer sections.
From Gerald Larner’s files: “3 pieces/s/ revise - see comple”
Roméo seul - Tristesse - Concert et Bal: Grande Fête chez Capulet
Scène d’amour
Scherzo: La reine Mab, ou la fée des songes
The story of Berlioz’s relationship with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whose Ophelia and Juliet so enchanted him in Paris in 1827 and who became his wife six years later, would not be out of place among the most extravagant examples of sentimental fiction. It was more than just a romantic episode in the composer’s life, however. The whole experience - the “thunderbolt” discovery of Shakespeare by way of the Charles Kemble company’s productions (in English) at the Théâtre de l’Odéon, the passion aroused in him by the pathos of Ophelia and Juliet, his projection of their poetic aura onto the actress who so beautifully embodied them - was a significant event from every biographical and musical point of view. Next to his reverence for the Beethoven symphonies, it was one of the most profoundly formative factors in Berlioz’s artistic development.
Berlioz had been planning some kind of musical realization of the Romeo and Juliet theme for a long time, probably since he first saw the play. But other major projects intervened, including the Symphonie fantastique (during a period of disillusionment with Harriet), Lélio (part of his resumed courtship strategy), Harold en Italie, Benvenuto Cellini, and the Grande Messe des morts. So it wasn’t until 1839 that he was able to apply himself wholeheartedly to the project. The immediate stimulus was a gift of 20,000 francs from Paganini, who had commissioned Harold en Italie in 1834 but had rejected it and had realised what a great work it was only when he first heard it in Paris at the end of 1838. This subvention of conscience money set Berlioz free from other worries and, starting with Roméo seul in January 1839, he completed his “dramatic symphony” less than eight months later.
Fortunately perhaps, the question of Berlioz’s wisdom in casting his interpretation of Romeo and Juliet as a kind of choral symphony, modelled to some extent on Beethoven’s Ninth, need not concern us on this occasion. The three movements selected for this performance, as for many others, are the central, purely orchestral ones representing, respectively, the first movement, slow movement and scherzo of the conventional symphony. The Introduction, the peculiar vocal Prologue with its anticipations of later events and the three concluding movements, including the grandiose choral Finale of reconciliation, are omitted.
The first extract, a symphonic Allegro with a slow introduction, finds Romeo alone at first and, according to the tempo direction (Andante malinconico e sostenuto) in melancholy mood. There is no equivalent for this episode in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: like several other apparent anomalies in Berlioz’s account of the story, it derives from the Garrick version of the play that the Kemble company presented in Paris in 1827. In this case Romeo’s adolescent fantasies are not fixed on “fair Rosaline” (Juliet’s predecessor in his affections, according to Shakespeare) but are wandering unfocused - as is so vividly indicated by the unaccompanied violin line, uncertain in metre and tonality, in the opening bars.
A vague anticipation of the beginning of Tristan und Isolde - the 26-year-old Richard Wagner was in the audience at the first performance of Roméo et Juliette at the Paris Conservatoire - the tentative violin line gives way to a more firmly defined woodwind theme. After a fairly brief and distant pre-echo of the Capulet festivities, the tempo drops to Larghetto espressivo for an even more poetic melody on oboe. The ball itself is a brilliant episode of lively dance music which is combined at its climax with Romeo’s oboe melody stoutly sustained on woodwind and brass. A later, more intimate allusion to the oboe melody suggests that Romeo has seen Juliet and that the fatal attraction is initiated.
The Scène d’amour, the equivalent to Shakespeare’s balcony scene, is the most eloquent vindication of Berlioz’s contention that “instrumental language is richer, more varied, less restricted” than vocal word-setting and “incomparably more potent.” It is a “serene night in the silent and deserted garden of the Capulet’s house,” as we hear in the magically atmospheric introduction. The protagonists are Romeo, represented by an ardent melody on horn and cellos, and Juliet, represented - after Romeo’s cello recitative and some initial indications of alarm - by a radiant inspiration on flute and cor anglais. Neither of these is presented as the main theme, however: the rondo shape assumed by the movement from this point on is based on a symbolic and highly melodious combination of features from both the Romeo and the Juliet themes. Surely the greatest of Berlioz’s slow movements, this Adagio clearly owes much to Beethoven but just as clearly anticipates both Wagner and Tchaikovsky.
Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech -
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone -
occupies no more than forty lines in Shakespeare’s text and, for all its verbal virtuosity, is not an essential item in the story. As material for a symphonic scherzo on the other hand, it was irresistible: Berlioz had drawn the passage to Mendelssohn’s attention as long as eight years earlier and had regretted it ever since, fearing that the master of the elfin scherzo would get in first. Berlioz’s La Reine Mab, a Prestissimo “as thin of substance as the air,” obviously owes much to Mendelssohn but, like the Scène d’amour, it also looks forwards - as far at least as the last act of Verdi’s Falstaff: Windsor Forest at midnight echoes with memories of Berlioz’s exquisitely scored scherzo, the poetic Allegretto nocturne in the middle no less then the hyperactive and slightly sinister outer sections.
Gerald Larner©2003
From Gerald Larner’s files: “3 pieces/revise - see complete”