Hector Berlioz - Symphony Fantastique

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An absolute masterpiece, Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique has a fascinating history. It is one of the first instrumental works to tell a detailed story. It is about a composer who is in love with an actress who won't give him the time of day. In his despair, the composer decides to commit suicide by overdosing on opium. He doesn't take enough, however, and he proceeds to have wild visions of himself and his beloved. Berlioz wrote this piece to get the attention of an Irish actress named Henrietta Smithson that he was in love with who wouldn't have anything to do with him. The piece so impressed her, that they began seeing each other and eventually had a short and tempestuous marriage. Attention to detail is particularly important in this piece and Berlioz was very particular about his markings.

In the introduction, most of the passages are for tutti woodwinds, and the clarinets are often in octaves with the flutes. In the main part of the movement at number 11, you have the main theme of the piece, or idee fixe, in octaves with the flute. This is the theme that represents the hero's beloved, and it is transformed throughout the piece. It is impossible to play this passage with too much passion, so pour on the expression. There are sudden and extreme dynamic changes that need to be done. The sfs before 12 are as sharp as you can make them without being stung. This is the passion of a young man hopelessly in love.

The Ball opens with our hero moving through a crowd at a dance party. He hears the music, and sees his beloved at number 26. Here again is the idee fixe. The main solo for the clarinet is a fragment of the main theme beginning at 35. The rfz should be quite dramatic, bordered by extreme hairpins up and down. Beginning in measure 11 of the solo, back off of the dynamic up to the high C, very dolce. Breathe, then come in with the second clarinet dolcissimo for the final 5 bars of the solo.

"In the country" finds our hero listening to shepherds playing their pipes to each other. The clarinet's first entrance is very delicate. Stay relatively soft so you give way to the more interesting lines happening elsewhere. After a while, our hero sees his beloved, and takes her in his arms. The passage from 41 to 43 is the only depiction of a complete sexual climax that I know of, the high point being the ff four bars after 42. With that in mind, much of the expression of the movement comes into focus. In the tender moments of afterglow, the clarinet, representing our hero, sings a tender love song to his beloved beginning in the third bar of 43. Start with a real mf, but dolce. This gives you plenty of space for a dramatic, whispered pppp echo. Berlioz was a master orchestrator, and he knew only the clarinet could achieve such an echo. The accompaniment is pp pizzicato strings, so play as softly as possible and you will still be heard. Start the poco f a little softer than you were in the mf. Each of the next three bars is a gesture, self-contained, and restated more passionately each time. When that figure can no longer contain the mounting passion, Berlioz gives us more notes in 3 before 44. Don't be afraid of big, weighty sfs. 2 before 44 is six individual pulses that lead forward in a terrace effect, like climbing stairs. The measure before 44 should be at least f at the beginning. The E is definitely the high point and all of the sixteenth-notes should have much bravado. Diminuendo only to mf by 44, and from there decay. This solo is usually the only thing heard on auditions from this piece. Committees want to hear how expressively you can play - you must not be timid or boring. The restatement that follows is with the other woodwinds. At the end of the movement, we hear again one shepherd, but the other is not responding - perhaps he is busy with our hero's beloved. Has she been unfaithful? An approaching storm heralds disaster.

The fourth movement has our hero being lead to the Guillotine, not the Stake, for murdering his beloved in a jealous rage. The passage at 56 is tricky, but not exposed. Just before our hero's head is cut off, he has a vision of his beloved in the clarinet solo after 56. Make huge hairpins - this is the last moment of his life. The downbeat of seven after 56 is the blade of the Guillotine cutting his head off. The pizzicati that follow represent his head bouncing down the steps of the platform, followed by the cheers of the crowd.

The fifth movement - A witch's Sabbath - has the first clarinet switching to Eb, but in modern practice the principal clarinet will play the second part and someone else will play the Eb part. There are still passages of note for the "first" clarinet in this movement. The story for this movement is that our dead hero is being haunted in hell by his dead beloved, now a witch. Measure 21 is a foreshadowing of the arrival of the witches, led by the composer's beloved. This is a fragment of the idee fixe in distorted rhythm. Play very softly at the beginning. Leave the hamming to the Eb when they come in with the complete theme. You just have one cresc. - make it a big one. There are lots of tricky things in the fugues that make up the bulk of the movement, and being on time is very important. Beginning in 447 is difficult passages that is even on some principal clarinet auditions. Play the fastest trills you can. The trills that fall on the first note of the triplets should be played on the beat. Leggiero is the key for the p passage that follows. The rest is fairly straight forward.

E-flat Clarinet Part
Usually played by the second clarinet as the principal takes the second part (in C) to play for the final movement, this solo is on virtually every piccolo clarinet audition. I recommend practicing the trills as if they were four 32nd notes followed by an eighth-note. If you practice this with the metronome on eighth-notes, you'll get the every trill securely under your fingers, and keep it that way as you get up to the marked tempo, which is a little slower than the C-clarinet solo a few seconds prior.

As with most solos, you can do a little rubato in the orchestra, but less or none in an audition. With that in mind, you can put a little space between the first two Gs, sort of "digging in" at the start of the witchs' celebration. I also recommend a little pull-back for the two high Ds which can be the loudest thing you play, followed by a one bar diminuendo before restarting the long crescendo to the peak. Instruments join you as you continue, but your sound will dominate throughout. Voice the high Cs well, as the articulation can make those notes prone to cracking. The number of grace-notes and trills varies between editions and between them and the autograph score. I personally like the added trill on the high B-flat, and the extra grace-note before the downbeat of one measure before 64.

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