Page 213 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

A slow introduction (“this state of melancholy reverie”) prepares the way for the first vision of the beloved, who is represented by the first appearance of the main theme, the idée fixe (Example 12.1).
Example 12.1 > the idée fixe
The movement unfolds in something akin to sonata–allegro form. The “re- capitulation,” however, does not so much repeat the idée fixe as transform the melody to reflect the artist’s feelings of sorrow and tenderness.
second movement: a ball
Program: The artist finds himself . . . in the midst of the tumult of a party.
A lilting waltz now begins, but it is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of the idée fixe (the beloved has arrived), its rhythm changed to accommodate the triple meter of the waltz. Four harps add a graceful accompaniment when the waltz returns, and, toward the end, there is even a lovely solo for cornet. The sequence of waltz–idée fixe–waltz creates a ternary form.
third movement: scene in the country
Program: Finding himself one evening in the country, the artist hears in the distance two shepherds piping. . . . He reflects upon his isolation and hopes that soon he will no longer be alone.
The dialogue between the shepherds is presented by an English horn and an oboe, the latter played offstage to give the effect of a distant response. The unex- pected appearance of the idée fixe in the woodwinds suggests that the artist has hopes of winning his beloved. But has she falsely encouraged him? In response to the lonely petition of an English horn, we now hear only the rumble of distant thunder in the timpani. The call for love goes unanswered—she loves me, she loves me not.
fourth movement: march to the scaffold
Program: Having realized that his love goes unrecognized, the artist poi- sons himself with opium. The dose of the narcotic, too weak to kill him, plunges him into a sleep accompanied by the most horrible visions. He dreams that he has killed the one he loved, that he is condemned, led to the scaffold, and now witnesses his own execution.
This drug-induced nightmare centers on the march to the scaffold where the artist is to be executed. The steady beat of the low strings and the muffled bass drum sound the steps of the procession. Near the end, the image of the beloved returns in the clarinet, only to be suddenly cut off by a fortissimo crash by the full orchestra. The guillotine has fallen and with it the lover’s head.
LiSTeN TO . . . Example 12.1 online.
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