Louis-Hector Berlioz
Few composers generate as much controversy as Louis-Hector Berlioz. Considered one of the premier composers of the romantic period, an influence on Wagner, there were elements of the classical period in his style. He fits neither in the romantic era, nor in the classical era, but rather, is a composer of unique stature, with an impressive and dazzling legacy. His works can be divided into the following categories.
Berlioz created many memorable works for symphony, including Harold en Italie, Le Carnival Romain, Les francs-juges, Te Deum, Requiem, and Le corsaire. However none is as well known as his famous Symphonie Fantastique. This work was created out of Berlioz's romantic frustration. The symphony tells the tale of a young sensitive musician who attempts to poison himself with opium. The different segments of the work detail each portion of the dream, from dreams of his beloved, which inspires anguish, rage, and tenderness, to a march to the scaffold, having dreamt of killing her. The Symphony ends on a dark note, in a dream of a Witches Sabbath.
Exerpt from the "Un bal", Symphonie Fantastique.
Berlioz was inspired, as was many of his contemporaries, by the story of Dr. Faustus, which was turned into a novel by the famous German writer, Goethe. The story revolves around a doctor selling his soul for youth and an exciting life, rather than remaining a tired old man. This story was made into no less than 2 operas (by Gounod and Wagner) and into a dramatic legend, his famous La Damnation de Faust, by Berlioz. Berlioz also created "dramatic legends" about the young Christ (Le Enfance du Christ), the death of Cleopatra (La Mort de Cleopatre), and one based on his love of Shakespeare, Romeo et Juliette.
"La Damnation de Faust" is the best remembered and most often repeated of Berlioz's works. In it, he combines his musical longings, with his belief in irresistable fate.
Exerpt from "La Damnation de Faust".
Hector Berlioz wrote 3 operas of note: Benvenuto Cellini, Beatrice et Benedict, and Les Troyens.
Benvenuto Cellini, his first opera, was an attempt on his part of make Opera change its ways. According to Jacques Barzun:
"If the Opera would once let him in, he could make its frivolous, overfed, finical and convention-ridden habitues swallow serious music."
However, the opera met with serious opposition. It took some time in order for the work, which was originally intended to be a light, comedy piece, to be played. Eventually it was, and definitely shook the conventions that Berlioz intended.
Beatrice et Benedict reflected Berlioz's love of Shakespeare. It was a direct transcription of "Much Ado About Nothing", set to music and in French. It was a light, pleasant opera, despite the fact that Berlioz was suffering from the loss of his son Louis, and from his continually constrained home life.
There is little doubt that Berlioz's greatest opera, and indeed, one of the greatest French operas ever composed, was Les Troyens. It was a monumental task: setting the entire of Vergil's Aeneid to music; so large, in fact, that it was divided in two pieces. This was the culmination of Berlioz's life's work. He felt it was his greatest acheivement. However, he died before ever seeing it performed, in 1869.
Exerpt from "Les Troyens".
Jean-Phillipe Rameau
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Jean-Phillipe Rameau was the most influential French Baroque composer. He created the current rules of harmonic practice, in his two treatises Trait de l'Harmonie (1723) and Noveau Systeme de Musique Theorie (1726); these treatises have been considered on the "required reading list" for composers since their publication. In short, all the great compositions that followed, have a bit of Rameau in them. Rameau was also a gifted composer in his own right, using his theories to create grand operas such as Hippolyte et Aricie, and the famous Les Indes Galantes. His experiments in orchestration and sound, were among the first to create "mood" in compositions, including storm scenes, heroic pastorales, and allegoric ballet. Exerpt from "Les Indes Galantes". |
 1683 - 1764 |
Camille Saint-Saens
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich was probably the greatest Russian composer. His musical talents stretched from symphonic to piano to operatic music, and each of his works is strikingly original. Among his most notable compostions is his Symphony No. 7, composed in 1942 during the seige of Leningrad, and reflective of the agony and the horror of the struggle. His operatic work, "Lady Macbeth of Mtensk", based on a Nikolai Leskov story of the same name, was banned in the Soviet Union, but has enjoyed a wide audience abroad. Among his piano works are the 24 Preludes and Fugues, recently well rendered by Tatiana Nikolayeva. Shostakovich was also interested in the theatre, composing musicals such as "Cheryomushkii", which was a satire on Soviet life. He has left a vast body of work behind, which is still cherished both in Russia and abroad.
Georges Bizet
Few composers cause such a huge divergence of opinion as Camille Saint-Saens. Called "The French Beethoven" by the French operatic composer Gounod, and only comparable to Mozart as a child prodigy, Saint-Saens was also lambasted by his contemporaries for "excessive intellectualism", "confusing harmonic language", "lacking the simplicity of Italian bel canto".
His melodies are likely to have been the product of a restless, lonely, and confused life. As a child, he was isolated from the rest of the world by his aunt and mother. Teachers visited his home, and he was prevented from all contact with women by his overbearing mother. He did eventually marry, but it was an unhappy state of affairs; his two sons died within 6 weeks of each other. Eventually he took to travelling, and to teaching, and among his pupils were the great Gabriel Faure. He also founded the Soci�t� Nationale de Musique, as a forum for contemporary classical music. An ardent Anglophile, he worked for Anglo-French friendship.
As for his musical compositions, he is mainly remembered for his compositions for the organ, including his Symphony No. 3. In addition, he wrote short pieces, such as Danse Macabre, the Havanaise. A medley of these short pieces has become famous as The Carnival of the Animals. Furthermore, he wrote powerful operatic works, including Samson et Dalila, and Henry VIII, in keeping with his Anglophilia. Many of these melodies have weaved their way unnoticed into popular life: for example, Saint-Saens "The Swan", was recently used as background music in the film "Stalin", and for a coffee commercial. He therefore presents a paradox, of writing well known melodies, but is relatively unknown.
Saint-Saens was considered the greatest living French composer by the time of his death from pneumonia in 1921. This opinion was by no means universal in France, but was definitely so in the rest of the world. Given the scope and breadth of his works, it is likely that Saint-Saens was the greatest French composer ever.
Exerpt from "The Swan".
Exerpt from Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2.
Many of the greatest artists never receive their just due while still alive. Georges Bizet was undoubtedly one of those who was underappreciated in life, but made immortal after his death. He began promisingly enough; urged on by his parents into a musical career, he won the Paris Conservatoire's Prix de Rome in 1857. This enabled him to go to the French Academy's Rome headquarters. However, it was there that he developed attacks of depression and crippling self-doubt. It meant that he left a stream of unfinished works. However, he managed to finish his first opera, Don Procopio, which was a light comic piece, sung in Italian. A following piece, Les P�cheurs de perles (1863), produced a moderately warm reception from the critics. It was the closest thing to acclaim he would ever receive.
Bizet composed no other major works until 1875, when his immortal Carmen made its appearance. The opera was inspired by a Spanish novel, which was a favourite of Empress Eugenie during the Second Empire. However, when the opera premiered on March 3, 1875, it was met with crushing disapproval. His health was shattered by the shock, and he died exactly 3 months after the premiere. Soon afterward, Carmen was recognised for its true genius, and remains one of the most enduring and popular operas ever created.
Exerpt from the Overture to "Carmen".
An Invitation
The Institut Classique is pleased to announce the opening of its Virtual Museum of Classical Music. The best composers, and their works, are waiting to be discovered. If interested, please follow the link below to the Institut Classique home page.
Many thanks for your kind attention.
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Institut Classique Notes: The Institut Classique was founded in 1997, to promote and study classical music. The Institut's first venture, a virtual museum, features pages about Russian Classical, French Romantic, and French Baroque Music. Please click on the link button for more information.  |