their responses and call on volunteers to share with the class. Remind students to employ
musical terms when offering their analyses. For example, how does Berlioz depict the
program through dynamics, tempo, form, timbre, instrumentation, tonality, rhythm, style,
and so on?
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. The German composer and critic Robert Schumann wrote of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique
shortly after its German premiere in 1835: “Whether a listener unfamiliar with the composer’s
intent would find that the music suggested pictures similar to those he wished to draw, I
cannot tell, since I read the program before hearing the music. But if you ask whether music
can really do what Berlioz demands of it in his symphony, then try to associate with it
different contrasting images.”
Do you think it is possible to achieve what Schumann suggests? Try this experiment on
your own: Play the fourth movement for a friend or family member who has no prior
knowledge of the program and ask what story he or she thinks the music is telling. If it is
something different from what Berlioz intended in his program, what role does compositional
intent play in appreciating or understanding the value of music? Is it important that we know
the intent of a composer, especially in a piece of programmatic music? Why or why not?
2. Have we explored a piece of music that also undergoes the process of thematic transformation?
(Students should identify Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.) What do these two works have in
common in their approaches to thematic transformation? What is different about each?
3. The improvements in instrument design and technology made possible by the Industrial
Revolution allowed Berlioz to call for instruments—especially wind instruments—never
before utilized in symphonic instrumental music. With the incorporation of these new