Symphonie Fantastique is a symphony written by French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is quite possibly one of the most important and representative pieces of the Romantic period, and is still very popular to this day.
The first performance took place at the Paris Conservatoire in December 1830. In many aspects Symphonie Fantastique and J. M. W.
Turner’s “Slave Ship” are very similar. Romanticism was a movement during the mid to late 1700’s in Europe; this was around the time of the Industrial Revolution. This was movement was targeted against the wealthy and the aristocratic.Most art from the Romanticism era were visual arts, music, and literature. One such work of art is J. M.
W. Turner’s “Slave Ship”. His painting depicted a scene of chaos with different color clouds in the sky it showed uncertainty or trouble brewing. At the left corner of the painting it shows a slave ship on the sea and it seems dramatic and dark. I believe this was his way of conveying his abolishing of slavery.
At the bottom of the painting, although I am not positive of what is trying to be depicted I believe it is slaves in shackles and being killed and or tortured.It truly is a gruesome painting and with a wide mixture of colors, it is very descriptive and it helps the J. M. W. Turner communicate his message to those that are viewing his painting.
Symphonie Fantastique is a symphony written by French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830 and composed of five movements. It was written for his English lover and was program music. The first movement is the basic introduction to the movements and it starts off slow and emotional and then it quickens and sounds frantic and crazy.With the slowing and speeding up of the music, there are elements of acoustics and it sounds like there is a heavy and light use of plucking strings.
There is also a very repetitive themes, both the acoustics and in the pounding of the drum. Unpredictability was also an element of the movement, just when you thought that it was finished it would start up again and there would be an extreme in highs and lows. In the second movement, Berlioz meets the woman of his desires at the ball and this movement conveys this.It is very slow and it sounds like they are at a waltz or a ball.
This theme was completely different than that of the first because the first was extremely lively and it was loud and obnoxious and this one was slow and peaceful and it seemed more calm and sophisticated. The second movement had elements of mystery, excitement, anxiety and longing. The movement also had a lot of flute and other soft instruments playing, possibly clarinet? The third movement was the body of the movement and there was a lot of drama in that movement.Berlioz takes Opium and thinks that he killed the lady of his desire and will get killed in spite. There is also a division of the sound the viola section is divided into two.
The forth movement takes place when Berlioz is executed for murdering his lover and added to the climax. The melody is abruptly cut off by the fall of the guillotine and the music increases and becomes very intense. The music starts up very quickly and seems to be very lively, and it ends intensely with the beheading of Berlioz. In the fifth movement, Berlioz is at his own funeral.It is a weird mixture of sounds and it is suppose to depict monsters and witches. It sounds dark and gloomy with hints of laughter as well.
There were many tempo changes with the change of emotions. It is believed that Berlioz was under the influence of Opium while he was writing the Symphonie Fantastique. He tripped about going from trying to get the attention of his lover to dying and going to his own funeral. The classical aspects incorporate different sounds and convey different themes ranging from dark to upbeat.
