Hector Berlioz was born in Côte-Saint-André, France on December 11,
1803. As a young man he was sent to Paris to study medicine, but music
occupied his interests and he soon abandoned his medical studies to
enter the Paris Conservatory. Impatient with the academic restrictions
imposed upon him there, he left the Conservatory to begin his career as
a composer. From the very beginning he set out to open new horizons for
musical expression and to extend the periphery of musical structure. His
first masterwork was the _Symphonie fantastique_, inspired by his love
for the Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson. It was introduced in
Paris in 1830, a year in which Berlioz also won the Prix de Rome. In his
later works, Berlioz became one of music’s earliest Romantics. He was a
bold innovator in breaking down classical restraint; he helped extend
the dramatic expressiveness of music; he was a pioneer in the writing of
program music and in enriching the language of harmony, rhythm, and
orchestration. Among his major works are the _Requiem_, _Harold in
Italy_ for viola solo and orchestra, the _Roman Carnival Overture_, the
dramatic symphony _Romeo and Juliet_, and _The Damnation of Faust_.
Berlioz married Harriet Smithson in 1833. It proved to be a tempestuous
affair from the outset, finally ending by mutual consent in permanent
separation. From 1852 until his death Berlioz was a librarian of the
Paris Conservatory. He was active throughout Europe as a conductor and
was a trenchant writer on musical subjects; among his books is a volume
of _Memoirs_. He died in Paris on March 8, 1869.
The compositions by which Berlioz is most often heard on semi-classical
programs are three excerpts from _The Damnation of Faust_: “The Dance of
the Sylphs” (“_Danse des sylphes_”); “The Minuet of the
Will-o’-the-Wisps” (“_Menuet des feux-follets_”), and “Rakóczy March”
(“_Marche hongroise_”).
_The Damnation of Faust_, op. 24, described by the composer as a
“dramatic legend,” took many years for realization. It was based on a
French translation of Goethe’s _Faust_, published in 1827. A year later,
Berlioz completed a musical setting of eight scenes as part of an
ambitious project to prepare a huge cantata based on the Faust legend.
He did not complete this project until eighteen years after that. Upon
returning to it, he revised his earlier material, and wrote a
considerable amount of new music. This work was first performed in
oratorio style in Paris on December 6, 1846 and was a fiasco. It was
given a stage presentation in Monte Carlo in 1903. Since then it has
been performed both in concert version and as an opera.
“The Dance of the Sylphs” is graceful waltz music, its main melody
assigned to the violins. It appears in the second part of the “legend.”
Faust is lulled to sleep by sylphs who appear in his dream in a delicate
dance which brings up for him the image of his beloved Marguerite.
“Minuet of the Will-o’-the-Wisps” comes in the third part of the legend.
Mephisto summons the spirits and the will-of-the-wisps to encircle
Marguerite’s house. The dance tune is heard in woodwind and brass. After
the trio section, the minuet melody is repeated twice, the second time
interrupted by chords after each phrase. The “Rakóczy March” is based on
an 18th-century Hungarian melody. It is logically interpolated into the
Faust legend by the expedience of having Faust wander about in Hungary.
A fanfare for the brass leads to the first and main melody, a brisk
march subject begun quietly in the woodwind. It gains in force until it
is exultantly proclaimed by full orchestra. A countersubject is then
heard in strings. After the march melody returns, it again gains in
volume until it is built up into an overpowering climax.