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Berlioz Symphonie fantastique Fantaisie sur la Tempête de Shakespeare Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Toronto Symphony Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis Hector Berlioz, c.1830 Hector Drawing by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780 – 1867) / AKG Images, London Hector Berlioz (1803 – 1869) Fantaisie sur la Tempête de Shakespeare (1830 – 31)* 14:25 (Fantasy on Shakespeare’s The Tempest) for Chorus, Orchestra, and Piano Four Hands Final movement from Lélio, ou Le Retour à la vie, Op. 14bis Monodrame lyrique Dedicated to His Son, Louis Berlioz 1 Prologue. Andante non troppo lento – [ ] – Tempo I senza rallentare – 3:07 2 La Tempête. Allegro assai, ma primo poco ritenuto – Poco a poco animato – 2:29 3 L’Action. Un poco meno mosso – Meno mosso – 6:51 4 Le Dénoument. Tempo I. Più animato con fuoco – Presto 1:57 3 Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 (1830) 55:33 en cinq parties (Fantasy Symphony in Five Movements) Épisode de la vie d’un artiste (Episode in an Artist’s Life) Dedicated to His Majesty Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia 5 I Rêveries (Dreams). Largo – Passions (Passions). Allegro agitato e appassionato assai – Religiosamente 15:30 6 II Un bal (A Ball). Valse. Allegro non troppo 6:27 7 III Scène aux champs (Scene in the Country). Adagio 16:00 8 IV Marche au supplice (March to the Scaffold). Allegretto non troppo 6:44 9 V Songe d’une nuit du Sabbat (Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath). Larghetto – Allegro – Allegro assai – Allegro – Dies irae – Ronde du Sabbat. Un peu retenu – Dies irae et Ronde du Sabbat ensemble 10:28 TT 70:08 Toronto Mendelssohn Choir* David Fallis interim conductor and artistic director Toronto Symphony Orchestra Jonathan Crow concertmaster Sir Andrew Davis 4 Toronto Mendelssohn Choir David Fallis interim conductor and artistic advisor soprano alto tenor Kathryn Barber Jane Agosta Mitch Aldrich* Nicole Bernabei Marlo Alcock Mason Borges† Lesley Emma Bouza* Julia Barber* Samuel Broverman Joanne Chapin* Sarah Climenhaga Brian Chang Leslie Finlay Kirsten Fielding* Peter DeRoche Kaveri Gandhi Ilone Harrison John Duwyn Julia Goss Valarie Koziol John Gladwell Pui See (Natasha) Ho Jennifer McGraw Nicholas Gough* Christine Kerr Pamela Psarianos Alejandro Guerrero Jennifer Kerr Amy Rossiter Valdis Jevtejevs* Sarah Maria Leung Alison Roy* James Jones Marlene Lynds Jan Szot Clement Kam Teresa Mahon* Chantelle Whiteside Nestor Li Sachiko Marshall Emma Willemsma Lawrie McEwan* Lydia McIntosh Andrea Wong Paul Oros* Lindsay McIntyre* Jessica Wright* William Parker Cathy Minnaar William Reid* Julia Morson* Isaiah-John Sison† Jennie Worden Steve Szmutni* Kate Wright* Max von Holtzendorff Sophya Yumakulov Bill Wilson David Yung* *Elora Singer †Apprentice 5 Toronto Symphony Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis interim artistic director Peter Oundjian conductor emeritus violin Jennifer Thompson Jonathan Crow, concertmaster Angelique Toews Tom Beck Concertmaster Chair James Wallenberg Mark Skazinetsky, associate concertmaster Virginia Chen Wells Marc-André Savoie, assistant concertmaster Sarah Kim* Etsuko Kimura, assistant concertmaster Daniel Koo* Paul Meyer, principal second violin Valerie Li* Wendy Rose, associate principal second violin Lance Ouellette* Eri Kosaka, assistant principal second violin Aaron Schwebel* Atis Bankas Sydney Chun viola Carol Lynn Fujino Nicolò Eugelmi, guest principal Amanda Goodburn Theresa Rudolph, assistant principal Terry Holowach Daniel Blackman Bridget Hunt Ivan Ivanovich Amalia Joanou-Canzoneri Gary Labovitz Mi Hyon Kim Diane Leung Shane Kim Charmain Louis Leslie Dawn Knowles Mary Carol Nugent Douglas Kwon Christopher Redfield Sergei Nikonov Ashley Vandiver Young Dae Park Emily Eng* Semyon Pertsovsky Jesse Morrison* Clare Semes 6 cello piccolo Joseph Johnson, principal Camille Watts Principal Cello Chair supported by Dr Armand Hammer oboe Emmanuelle Beaulieu Bergeron, associate Sarah Jeffrey, principal principal Keith Atkinson, associate principal Winona Zelenka, assistant principal Cary Ebli Alastair Eng Hugo Lee Igor Gefter Marie Gélinas English horn Roberta Janzen Cary Ebli Britton Riley Kirk Worthington clarinet Ashton Lim* Joaquin Valdepeñas, principal Sheryl L. and David W. Kerr double-bass Principal Clarinet Chair Jeffrey Beecher, principal Eric Abramovitz, associate principal Michael Chiarello, associate principal Miles Jaques Theodore Chan Joseph Orlowski Timothy Dawson Chas Elliott bass clarinet David Longenecker Miles Jaques Paul Rogers Michael Cox* bassoon Michael Sweeney, principal flute Darren Hicks, associate principal Kelly Zimba, principal Samuel Banks Toronto Symphony Volunteer Fraser Jackson Committee Principal Flute Chair Julie Ranti, associate principal contrabassoon Leonie Wall Fraser Jackson Camille Watts 7 horn percussion Neil Deland, principal Charles Settle, principal Dr Michael Braudo Principal Horn Chair Joseph Kelly Christopher Gongos, associate principal John Rudolph Audrey Good Kristopher Maddigan* Nicholas Hartman Erin Halls* harp Heidi Van Hoesen Gorton, principal trumpet Principal Harp supported by Andrew McCandless, principal Richard Rooney and Laura Dinner Toronto Symphony Volunteer Committee Lori Gemmell* Principal Trumpet Chair Steven Woomert, associate principal keyboard James Gardiner Talisa Blackman* James Spragg David Louie* trombone librarians Gordon Wolfe, principal Gary Corrin, principal Vanessa Fralick, associate principal Principal Librarian supported by Bob and Ann Corcoran bass trombone Kim Gilmore Jeffrey Hall personnel tuba David Kent, manager Mark Tetreault, principal Jennifer Stephen* *Guest musician timpani David Kent, principal Joseph Kelly, assistant 8 © Dario Acosta Photography Sir Andrew Davis Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique / Fantaisie sur la Tempête de Shakespeare Symphonie fantastique then set to music several of Thomas Moore’s When a New York newspaper in 1868 Irish Melodies, which at least evoked the described the Symphonie fantastique as ‘a land of her birth. He would have liked to be nightmare set to music’, it was meant to be writing a Beethovenian symphony – except an insult. Yet this was exactly what Hector that the customary triumphant ending had no Berlioz (1803 – 1869) had intended: not that counterpart in his own world. the critic should have a miserable evening, The dilemma was resolved early in 1830 but that he should grasp, even dimly, the when Berlioz was informed, evidently by a agonies of the composer’s own experience. Of new aspirant to the role of lover, Camille Berlioz’s real suffering there can be no doubt. Moke, that Harriet was a typical actress, One has only to read the letters of 1829 (when free and easy with her favours and in no way Berlioz was twenty-five years old) to glimpse worthy of the exalted passion that consumed the torment of a composer whose mind was him day and night. Now, he suddenly realised, bursting with musical ideas and whose heart he could represent this dramatic episode was bleeding. in his life as a symphony, with a demonic, The object of his passion was an Irish orgiastic finale in which both he and she are actress, Harriet Smithson, whom Berlioz condemned to hell. had seen on the stage two years before in The symphony was speedily written the roles of Juliet and Ophelia. Since then down in little more than three months and he had observed her only at a distance, performed for the first time later that year. while of his very existence she was still quite It became a main item in the many concerts unaware. How was this unreal passion to which Berlioz gave in the 1830s, for each be expressed? His first thought, naturally of which he issued a printed programme enough, was a dramatic Shakespearean work, explaining the symphony’s narrative. perhaps a Romeo and Juliet, for which Berlioz Although the symphony is about an ‘artist’ composed, it seems, a few movements. He and his ‘beloved’, it was widely known 10 that the work was autobiographical. Even and the agitation caused by the beloved’s after Berlioz, by a strange irony, had met appearance. At the end a lone shepherd’s pipe and married Harriet Smithson three years is answered only by the rumble of distant later, the symphony’s dramatic programme thunder. remained. There can be few parallels to this In his despair the artist has poisoned extraordinary tale of love blooming in real his beloved and is condemned to death. life after it had been violently repudiated and The fourth movement is the ‘Marche au exorcised in a work of art. supplice’ (March to the Scaffold), as he All five movements of theSymphonie is led to the guillotine before the raucous fantastique contain a single recurrent theme, jeers of the crowd. In his last moments he the idée fixe (‘obsession’), which represents sees the beloved’s image (the idée fixe in the the artist’s love and is transformed according clarinet’s most piercing range), then the blade to the context in which the artist finds his falls. Finally, in the ‘Songe d’une nuit du beloved. After a slow introduction depicting Sabbat’ (Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath), the ‘the sickness of the soul, the flux of passion, artist finds himself a spectator at a sinister the unaccountable joys and sorrows he gathering of spectres and weird, mocking experienced before he saw his beloved’, monsters of every kind. Theidée fixe appears, the idée fixe is heard as the main theme of horribly distorted, bells toll, the Dies irae is the Allegro, the violins and flute lightly coarsely intoned by tubas and bassoons, and accompanied by sputtering lower strings. the witches’ round-dance gathers momentum. The surge of passion is aptly described in the Eventually the dance and the Dies irae join volcanic first movement. together and the symphony ends in a riot of In the second movement, ‘Un Bal’ (A Ball), brilliant orchestral sound. the artist glimpses her in a crowd of whirling TheSymphonie fantastique has remained dancers. In the third, ‘Scène aux champs’ to this day a classic document of the (Scene in the Country), two shepherds call romantic imagination and a great virtuoso to each other on their pipes, and the music piece for orchestra. The grasp which Berlioz depicts the stillness of a summer evening demonstrated of the orchestra’s potential in the country, the artist’s passionate charge was uncanny at so early an age.

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