Symphony Hour Program
We acknowledge that the land we make music on is the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to Elders past and present and recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land. We acknowledge that this is of continuing importance to the Kaurna people living today. We extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are with us for this performance today.
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique Op.14
1. Rêveries (Passions)
2. Un bal (A Ball)
3. Scène aux champs (Scene in the Country)
4. Marche au supplice (March to the Scaffold)
5. Songe d’une nuit du sabbat (Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath)
Alpesh Chauhan Conductor
Emma Gregan Presenter
About the music
Have you ever been so captivated by a psychological thriller or true crime podcast that its dark twists linger long after it ends? The music world has its own version of this unsettling allure in Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. In the next hour, you’ll hear an artist’s opium-induced spiral into obsession and despair.
Berlioz was 26 when he wrote Symphonie fantastique. The French composer was motivated by his obsession for Harriet Smithson. She was a young actress; he was her secret admirer. Would his music be rousing enough to impress her?
The subtitle to his 1830 composition is ‘An Episode in the Life of an Artist’. While this particular episode represents his fantastical opium trip, it’s also influenced by his unusual background. Berlioz tinkered with limbs and organs as a medical student in 19th-Century Paris – a time when opium was being explored as a treatment for pain. The composer eventually abandoned dissections to pursue his music career, but the lingering darkness bleeds into his Symphonie fantastique.
Symphonie fantastique contains five movements, and they grow progressively unhinged. The work is semi-autobiographical, so you may imagine Berlioz to be the artist depicted in this musical narrative, and Harriet the object of his desire.
Listening tip
Luscious strings open the first movement, Dreams – Passions. About six minutes in, you will hear flute and violin playing a melody in unison – the idée fixe. This theme represents Berlioz’s romantic fixation, and appears in various forms as the work progresses.
In the second movement, A Ball, the artist tries to catch a glimpse of his love across the room, the harp’s bloom conjuring hope and anticipation. We’re then presented with the third movement, Scene in the Country, where midway through, woodwinds sing the idée fixe with an espressivo (expressive) solo. Timpani rolls like thunder, heralding a psychological storm.
The fourth movement, March to the Scaffold,marks the point of no return. Our opium-fuelled artist has a nightmare in which he murders the one he loves, and faces the ultimate punishment. He trudges to the scaffold, a rigid rhythm marching him to his fate.
Listening tip
Before the end of this movement, clarinet will hint at the idée fixe – one final vision of love. Drum roll heralds the swish of the guillotine, which falls on our feverish artist.
Eerily, the story does not end there. We embark on a terrifying adventure into the underworld with the final movement, Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath. Berlioz uses the medieval Dies irae chant to convey a blasphemous scene: the woman dances with demons at his funeral.
Listening tip
Clarinet converts the idée fixe into a sprightly and sinister dance. The bell tolls for the doomed artist.
Symphonie fantastique did indeed impress Harriet. However, Berlioz was cunning. Just like the artist in his composition, he took too much opium. He refused to take the antidote unless Harriet married him – so she agreed, securing their brief and ill-fated relationship.
© Stephanie Eslake 2024
Artists
Alpesh Chauhan | Conductor
British conductor Alpesh Chauhan is Principal Guest Conductor of Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company, championing a unique approach to bringing opera to the wider community of Birmingham, the most recent production of Tippett’s A New Year being praised for “exemplary music making.” (The Guardian)
Forthcoming highlights include debuts with Stavanger, Detroit, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, Orchestre National de Belgique, PhilZuid, and Orchestre de Auvergne. Returns include to Oslo Philharmonic, City of Birmingham, Melbourne,
Adelaide Symphony, and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, Orchestra de La Fenice, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with whom he currently partners on a Tchaikovsky cycle with Chandos Records. Their first two albums were released
in 2023 and 2024 to critical acclaim: “Spell binding Tchaikovsky packs an emotional punch.” (BBC Music Magazine)
Other recent guest conducting projects include with Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hallé, West Australian Symphony, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, Toronto Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Malmö Symphony Orchestras.
Born in Birmingham, he studied cello and on the prestigious Master’s Conducting Course at the Royal Northern College of Music. He was conferred an Honorary Fellow of the RNCM in 2024 and in 2022 received an OBE for Services to the Arts
in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2022 New Year’s Honours.
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Violins
Kate Suthers** (Concertmaster)
Cameron Hill** (Associate Concertmaster)
Holly Piccoli* (Principal 1st Violin)
Alison Heike** (Principal 2nd Violin)
Helen Ayres~ (Guest Associate Principal 2nd Violin)
Janet Anderson
Ann Axelby
Runa Baagøe
Louise Beaston
Minas Berberyan
Gillian Braithwaite
Julia Brittain
Zoe Freisberg
Belinda Gehlert
Zsuzsa Leon
Danielle Jaquillard
Lucy Macourt
Alexis Milton
Michael Milton
Ambra Nesa
Julie Newman
Liam Oborne
Alexander Permezel
Kemeri Spurr
Niki Vasilakis
Violas
Jacqui Cronin** (Guest Section Principal)
Michael Robertson~
Martin Alexander
Lesley Cockram
Linda Garrett
Anna Hansen
Natalie Maegraith
Georgina Price
Anna Webb
Cellos
Martin Smith** (Guest Section Principal)
Sharon Grigoryan~
Joseph Freer
Shuhei Lawson
Andrew Leask
Gemma Phillips
Greg Tuske
Cameron Waters
Double Basses
David Schilling**
Belinda Kendall-Smith~ (Acting Associate Principal)
Jacky Chang
Harley Gray
Holly Little
Gustavo Quintino
Flutes
Kim Falconer**
Lisa Gill
Piccolo
Julia Grenfell*
Oboes
Joshua Oates**
Renae Stavely~
Cor Anglais
Peter Duggan*
Clarinets
Dean Newcomb**
Mitchell Berick*
E-Flat Clarinet
Mitchell Berick*
Bass Clarinet
William Branson* (Guest Principal)
Bassoons
Mark Gaydon**
Leah Stephenson
Kristina Phillipson
Contrabassoon
Jackie Newcomb*
Horns
Adrian Uren**
Sarah Barrett~
Philip Paine*
Emma Gregan
Timothy Skelly
Trumpets
David Khafagi**
Martin Phillipson~
Richard Blake
Gregory Frick
Trombones
Colin Prichard**
Ian Denbigh
Bass Trombone
Amanda Tillett*
Tuba
Stan McDonald*
David Gill
Timpani
David Clarence*
Sami Butler~
Percussion
Steven Peterka**
Jamie Adam
Amanda Grigg
Ryan Grunwald
Harp
Jess Fotinos** (Guest Section Principal)
Jacinta Dennett
** denotes Section Principal
~ denotes Associate Principal
* denotes Principal Player