Berlioz and Gluck

Kyujung Lim
Week 4, Question 5

Background
• The popularity of Gluck's operas were waning in the early 1820s, being replaced by Rossini and
Italian music, when Berlioz discovered Gluck
• Gluck's originals had been increasingly corrupted in performance; modifications in
orchestration were often made for greater effects

Berlioz's Memoires, Chapter XV “Evenings at the Opera”

• Berlioz admires Gluck's mastery of utilizing instrumental devices and colors in orchestration for
achieving dramatic effects in the depiction of scenes and characters
• Berlioz becomes furious during opera performances when there was an addition or removal of
instrument parts from the original score.
e.g. Iphigénie en Tauride – cymbals were added to the first dance of the Scythians and
trombone parts were ommitted in the third act during the recitative

Berlioz's view on Gluck

• Berlioz was an ardent critic and writer for Gluck's works
• Berlioz included Gluck's works in his concerts and supervised the production of Gluck's operas
• Berlioz cited numerous examples from Gluck's works in his well-known orchestration book:
Treatise on Orchestration
• An excerpt from Berlioz's article:
… But he was gifted with an extraordinary feeling for expression and a rare understanding of the human heart, and
his sole aim was to give passions a true, profound and powerful language, and he used all available musical
resources for this sole purpose. When rules did not stand in the way of his inspiration he followed them, but he
discarded them when they became an obstacle. Only his harmonic language remained restricted; he only knew a
limited number of chords, which he would often use in the same way. On the other hand he introduced many new
rhythms, which Mozart subsequently adopted. … He was the first to make this art a genuine poetic language; and
had he not sacrificed everything to his system, had he shown greater variety, one might have regarded him as the
Shakespeare of music.

Berlioz's Compositions
• Symphonie Fantastique: a program symphony telling the story of an artist
• La Damnation de Faust: a “dramatic legend” for solo voices, chorus and orchestra
• Grande Messe des morts (Requiem): written for a tenor voice, chorus and orchestra
• Les Troyens: a grand opera consisting of five acts. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself
based on Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid

Gluck's Influence on Berlioz's works

• Similarities of sound worlds between Berlioz and Gluck: the economy of his instrumental
writing, the attention to the individual character of instruments, the general leanness of his
orchestral sound, and sharp contrasts. “the truthfulness of the expression”

• Similarities in operatic works

◦ Les Troyens (Berlioz): “Adieu, fiere cite” - Dido abandoned by Aeneas
◦ Armide (Gluck): “Le perfide Renaud me fuit” - Armide abandoned by Renaud
1. Gluck is partially responsible for such orchestral modification; he frequently left careless
orchestral writing (did not bother writing out doubling parts) and did not properly supervise the
publications of his works
2. The flute player playing one octave higher in order to be heard, ending up losing the deep low
tone
3. Aeneas is a Trojan hero who escaped from the city during the Greek invasion with the wooden
horse. Aeneas receives a prophesy that he will found a new city, Rome in Italy and escapes with
a group of men, arriving Dido's land, Carthage. Aeneas and Dido fall in love but Aeneas departs
and Dido kills herself.
4. Armide by Gluck: Renaud, the Christian Knight was under Armide's magic spells during the
first Crusade. Armide falls in love instead of killing Renaud. Renaud breaks free from the spells
and leaves Armide
5. In the final Act the fury of Dido abandoned by Aeneas who yields to the call of duty recalls
strikingly that of Armide when similarly abandoned by Renaud at the end of Gluck’s opera
- the enhancement of atmosphere and the character's emotions in the similar scenes through
musical components. Vocal echos
6. Berlioz thought Les Troyens was an achievement of “the truthfulness of the expression”. The
goal of a dramatic composer, and he felt that he equalled the achievements of Gluck and Mozart
Sources

Grout, Short History, Chpater 14, pp. 253-271

Berlioz, Memoirs of Hector Berlioz from 1803 to 1865, pp. 50-57

Berlioz, Les Troyens (Vocal Score), pp. 8-9, pp. 514-516

The Hector Berlioz Website, Berlioz and Gluck: http://www.hberlioz.com/Predecessors/gluck.htm