A wild night with Berlioz

Synopsis

The first performance of a landmark musical work of the Romantic period, the "Symphonie fantastique" of Berlioz, took place on today's date in 1830, at the Paris Conservatory.

"Symphonie fantastique" was inspired by the composer's infatuation with an English Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson. When she ignored him, Berlioz wrote his "Fantastic" symphony as a musical depiction of his stormy passion for the charismatic red-haired actress, who is transformed via the musical theme from an ideal vision of beauty into a nightmarish participant in a Witches' Sabbath. It's a wild and colorful symphonic trip.

As with any such groundbreaking work, early opinions were divided. Franz Liszt attended the premiere and was so impressed that he became Berlioz's friend and even prepared a solo piano transcription of the symphony. Paganini was bowled over and asked Berlioz to write something for him. On the other hand, the conservative director of the Paris Conservatory, Luigi Cherubini, uncomfortable with the radical new style of Berlioz, refused to attend, commenting: "I don't need to be taught how NOT to write music."

The reaction of the first night audience was mostly positive, and Berlioz wrote in his Memoirs that the movement titled "March to the Scaffold" was especially well received. He also claimed that he wrote this march in a single night—but that claim, like the whole symphony, may be a bit "fantastic. "

Music Played in Today's Program

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 Cleveland Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, cond. DG 453 432

On This Day

Births

• 1687 - Baptism of Italian composer, violinist and theorist Francesco Geminiani, in Lucca;

• 1870 - Czech composer Vitezslav Novák, in Kamenice nad Lipou;

Deaths

• 1791 - Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadé (aka Amadeus) Mozart, age 35, in Vienna;

Premieres

• 1749 - Rameau: opera "Zoroastre," in Paris;

• 1830 - Berlioz: "Symphonie fantastique" in Paris, with François-Antoine Habaneck conducting;

• 1837 - Berlioz: "Requiem," in Paris, François Habeneck conducting (Berlioz later claimed that at one point he had to jump on stage and take over when Habeneck stopped to take snuff, but some eyewitnesses denied this happened);

• 1865 - Brahms: Horn Trio in Eb, Op. 40, in Karlsruhe, with two musicians identified only as Strauss (violin) and Segisser (horn), with the composer at the piano; The latest edition of the Grove Dictionary lists an earlier performance in Zürich, Swizterland, on November 28 that same year, however;

• 1911 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Preludes, Op. 32 (Gregorian date: Dec. 18);

• 1927 - Janácek: "Slavonic Mass," in Brno;

• 1930 - Milhaud: Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra, in Paris;

• 1930 - Sessions: "The Black Maskers" Suite, in Cincinnati;

• 1947 - Barber: "Medea" Ballet Suite, Op. 23, by Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1952 - Menotti: Violin Concerto, with Efrem Zimbalist, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1991 - Zwilich: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchesra, by the Louisville Orchestra with Lawrence Leighton Smith conducting, and soloists Jaime Laredo (violin) and Sharon Robinson (violoncello);

• 1998 - Libby Larsen: "String Symphony," in Minneapolis by the Minnesota Orchestra, Eiji Oue conducting

Others

• 1704 - George Frideric Handel (age 19) refuses to turn over the harpsichord to Johann Mattheson (age 23) during a performance of Mattheson's opera "Cleopatra," leading to a sword duel between the two; It is said that during the swordplay, Handel was saved by a button on his coat that deflected Mattheson's mortally-directed blade; The two reconciled on December 30 that year, dining together and attending a rehearsal of Handel's opera "Almira," becoming, as Mattheson put it: "better friends than ever."