Few aspects of Berlioz's style are more idiosyncratic than his handling of musical form. This book, the first devoted solely to the topic, explores how his formal strategies are related to the poetic and dramatic sentiments that were his very reason for being. Rodgers draws upon Berlioz's ideas about musical representation and on the ideas that would have influenced him, arguing that the relationship between musical and extra-musical narrative in Berlioz's music is best construed as metaphorical rather than literal - 'intimate' but 'indirect' in Berlioz's words. Focusing on a type of varied-repetitive form that Berlioz used to evoke poetic ideas such as mania, obsession, and meditation, the book shows how, far from disregarding form when pushing the limits of musical evocation, Berlioz harnessed its powers to convey these ideas even more vividly.
Author(s): Stephen Rodgers
Edition: 1
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 200
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Music examples......Page 8
Figures......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 11
1 Introduction......Page 13
Form and program......Page 15
Strophic variation......Page 17
Simple cycles......Page 23
Questions of terminology......Page 26
Berlioz scholars on his penchant for strophic variation......Page 30
Programs......Page 33
Chœur de gnomes et de sylphes and Ballet des sylphes......Page 36
Ballet des sylphes......Page 37
Chœur de gnomes et de sylphes......Page 41
Marche des pèlerins from Harold en Italie......Page 44
The age-old program problem......Page 51
Poetic thoughts and programs......Page 55
Musical metaphor......Page 60
Precedents in French theories of imitation......Page 64
Lacépède......Page 65
Le Sueur......Page 66
Chabanon......Page 67
Form and metaphor......Page 69
4 Mixing genres, mixing forms: sonata and song in Le Carnaval romain......Page 75
Sonata form?......Page 77
Precedents in French strophic song......Page 83
Convention and carnival......Page 90
The carnivalesque......Page 92
The maladies of the Symphonie fantastique......Page 97
Writing delirium into music......Page 101
Obsession......Page 103
Vacillation......Page 112
Self-creation......Page 115
Looking for Shakespeare in Berlioz......Page 119
Circularity as metaphor: the nocturnal music of the Scène's opening......Page 121
Musical labels and large-scale form......Page 127
A into B and C......Page 132
B into C......Page 134
A, B, and C into D......Page 135
The fulfillment of the love theme......Page 138
Finishing an ending......Page 139
“Romeo's” theme becomes Romeo’s theme......Page 143
Thematic illumination......Page 145
Berlioz and eccentricity......Page 147
Beyond strophic variation......Page 148
Beyond form......Page 150
1 Introduction......Page 153
2 Preliminary examples and recent theories......Page 156
3 Form as metaphor......Page 163
4 Mixing genres, mixing forms......Page 170
5 The vague des passions, monomania, and the first movement of the Symphonie fantastique......Page 175
6 Love's emergence and fulfillment......Page 180
7 Epilogue......Page 184
Bibliography......Page 185
Index......Page 197
