Berlioz: Harold In Italy / Les Francs-juges

Description

Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869)Les Francs-Juges: Overture, Op. 3Rêverie et Caprice: Romance for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 8Harold in Italy: Symphony for Viola and Orchestra, Op. 16At his best, Berlioz illuminated virtually every element of the Romantic Century: its national pulse and revolutionary ardour; the power of literature and its transformation in music and programme; industry, invention, new instruments and sounds of every sort; vivid colour and bold harmonic design tinged with melancholy; and, above all, a sense of the obligations of Genius.The sculptor Benvenuto Cellini had attracted Berlioz' dramatic attentions. Settling on the subject of this sixteenth century Florentine, Berlioz announced a new opera named for its subject. By the summer of 1834, work was well under way. He wrote an Act I cavatine for Teresa, Ah, que l'amour une fois dans le coeur. In time, however, its uses diminished and the aria was cut. Five years later, its composer, never one to waste material, reconceived it as a Romance for solo violin and orchestra, a Rêverie et Caprice. It rapidly became a vehicle for visiting soloists. Although not technically difficult in the virtuosic sense, its abrupt mood changes are challenge enough.Les Francs-Juges is one of Berlioz' apparent failures. Conceived as an opera in his student days under Le Sueur, by the autumn of 1826 its third act was finished; by October, its overture was complete. Ultimately, Berlioz destroyed much of its music, and today the overture alone survives, but even as a student work, it bears many of the marks of Berlioz' greatest gifts.The story of the opera is elaborate and confusing. In the revised libretto of 1829 we find a medieval German kingdom, Breisgau, under the despotic rule of self-appointed judges who control the realm through murder, usurpation, and the wicked tricks of their leader Olmerik. The true king is the young Lenor, secretly in love with Amélie, Olmerik's bride-to-be. Lenor's ordeal by trial begins at Act III in a cave. Black-hooded judges are menacingly perched on vast granite chairs around a dim table. To no effect, Lenor denounces the tyrannical misrule of the judges. Luckily, he is rescued by good citizens and enlightened peasants. Olmerik is consumed by flames, the monarchy is restored, and so is love. (There appear to be several good reasons for the failure of the opera.)The Overture is scored for the vast forces of the Romantic orchestra, including the contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets (with the new tromba à piston), timpani, suspended and crash cymbals, bass drum, and two bass ophicleides. These hybrid brass instruments were keyed like woodwind, strangely raspy and dark, and are today replaced by the tuba. The music of the Overture creates a powerful sense of time and dark place. It opens in a moody and atmospheric F minor, prisoners transported by the dotted rhythms of violin and viola, bassoons and basses. Listen for the sudd