The Symphonie fantastique is an autobiographical work haunted by an 'idée fixe,' a recurrent melody symbolizing the beloved, which was a prototype for Wagner's Leitmotiv.
Composer Biography
Hector Berlioz, the composer, abandoned his medical studies to become a musician, remaining an outsider to the Parisian musical establishment.
Composition History
Berlioz's first visit to a dissecting-room, described in his Mémoires, provided a 'startling disincentive' to his medical studies, as he observed birds fighting for human lungs and rats gnawing vertebrae.
Composition History
Berlioz made several attempts to win the prestigious Prix de Rome, finally succeeding in 1830 with his cantata Sardanapale.
Recording & Production
This album was mastered using the 2xHD proprietary system, which involves transferring the original master to analog and then recording it directly in DXD.
Performer Biography
Leonard Slatkin, the conductor, has received seven GRAMMY® Awards and over sixty GRAMMY® Award nominations for his more than one hundred recordings.
Composition History
The Symphonie fantastique was partly conceived in reaction to Berlioz's intense and unreciprocated passion for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whom he later married.
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