Symphonic Concert: Berlioz
演出简介
Louis Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) was a French Romantic composer who brought to the audience the first romantic symphony “Symphonie fantastique” (1830), an autobiographic program symphony. A special place among his works is held by Requiem (Grande messe des morts) Op. 5 commissioned by the Minister of the Interior of France, to remember soldiers who died in the Revolution of July 1830. It was to be performed each year thereafter to commemorate the Revolution of 1830. Its premiere took place on December 5, 1837 in Saint‐Louis des Invalides, conducted by Antoine Habaneck. It was then to be performed each year.
The Invalides was immense, therefore Berlioz wanted to create a body of sound proportionate to its scale, including a chorus of 800, but wound up settling for about half. The published score specifies 210 choristers, 108 strings, 20 winds, 12 horns plus the off‐stage brass, but states: “The numbers indicated are only relative. If space permits the chorus may be doubled or tripled and the orchestra proportionately increased. But in the event of an exceptionally large chorus, say 700–800 voices, the entire chorus should only be used for the Dies Irae, the Tuba Mirum and the Lacrymosa, the rest of the movements being restricted to 400 voices.”
Nowadays it is mostly performed in a version adapted to the venue.
The Requiem had a powerful effect on the audience: One of the female choristers suffered an attack of nerves during “Dies irae” and the vicar of the Invalides wept for a full fifteen minutes after the ceremony”. The philosopher and poet Alfred de Vigny wrote after the premiere: “The music was beautiful, strange, wild, convulsively throbbing and heart‐rending.” Berlioz considered it one of his most important works, writing two years before his death: “If I were threatened with the destruction of the whole of my works save one, I should crave mercy for the “Messe des morts”.”
演员表/出品方
Conductor: Vello Pähn
Estonian National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
