Английская Википедия:Harold en Italie

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Italic title Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Infobox musical composition

Шаблон:Lang (Harold in Italy, symphony with viola obbligato), as the manuscript describes it, is a four-movement orchestral work by Hector Berlioz, his Opus 16, H. 68, written in 1834. Throughout, the unusual viola part represents the titular protagonist, without casting the form as a concerto. The movements have these titles, alluding to a programme:

  1. Harold in the mountains
  2. March of the pilgrims
  3. Serenade of an Abruzzo mountaineer
  4. Orgy of bandits

Creation

The Italian composer Niccolò Paganini encouraged Hector Berlioz to write Шаблон:Lang. The two first met after a concert of Berlioz's works conducted by Narcisse Girard on 22 December 1833, three years after the premiere of Berlioz's Шаблон:Lang. According to Berlioz' Шаблон:Lang, Paganini had acquired a "superb viola", a Stradivarius (the so-called "Paganini-Mendelssohn" [1]) — "But I have no suitable music. Would you like to write a solo for viola? You are the only one I can trust for this task." ("Шаблон:Lang") [2]

Berlioz began "by writing a solo for viola, but one which involved the orchestra in such a way as not to reduce the effectiveness of the orchestral contribution". When Paganini saw the sketch of the allegro movement, with all the rests in the viola part, he told Berlioz it would not do, and that he expected to be playing continuously.[3] They then parted, with Paganini disappointed. A few years later, Paganini was in Pari again and attended a concert including the Symphonie Fantastique and Harold en Italie conducted by Berlioz. After the concert Paganini went to see Berlioz and told him he had never been as touched as by Harold, then kneeled and kissed Berlioz's hand.

Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" inspired the mood of Harold, Berlioz wrote.Шаблон:Citation required

Шаблон:Blockquote

That he had recycled some of the material from his discarded concert overture, Rob Roy, went unmentioned. Despite Berlioz' mention of Byron, music critics, including Donald Tovey, have pointed out that Harold in Italy owes nearly nothing to the poem: "no definite elements of Byron's poem have penetrated the impregnable fortress of Berlioz's encyclopaedic inattention,...there is no trace in Berlioz's music of any of the famous passages of Childe Harold."[4]

Form

Файл:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf
I. "Harold in the Mountains": theme of the adagio
Файл:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf
I. "Harold in the Mountains": theme of the allegro
Файл:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf
II. "March of the Pilgrims": theme
Файл:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf
III. "Sérénade": theme of the allegro assai
Файл:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf
III. "Sérénade": theme of the allegretto
Файл:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf
IV. "At the Orgy of the Brigands": theme

From a formal point of view, the work can be regarded as a symphony. For example, it has four movements, the third of which is a Beethovenesque scherzo. The solo parts never have a virtuoso style comparable to other solo concertos. The viola has its most important role in the first movement, where it introduces the Harold theme as well as the two secondary themes.[5]

In addition to the solo viola, the work calls for 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (1st doubling cor anglais in movement III), 2 clarinets in C (movements I, III, and IV) and A (movement II), 4 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, 2 tambourines, harp and strings.

Throughout the work the viola represents Harold. The first movement, Harold aux montagnes, traces scenes his melancholic character encounters in the mountains. The manner in which the viola theme hesitantly repeats its opening phrase — gaining confidence, like an idea forming, before the long melody spills out in its entirety — was satirized in a musical paper after the premiere: "Ha! ha! ha! – haro! haro! Harold!" it began, a cheeky touch Berlioz recalled years later in his Mémoires. In the second movement, Marche des pèlerins, Harold accompanies a group of pilgrims; in the third, Sérénade, his mistress is enchanted by music. The last movement, Orgie de brigands, finds the hero spiritually drained and in wild company, perhaps in a tavern. (Jacques Barzun reminds us: "The brigand of Berlioz's time is the avenger of social injustice, the rebel against the city, who resorts to nature for healing the wounds of social man."[6])

History

Harold in Italy was premiered on 23 November 1834 with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Chrétien Urhan playing the viola part, Narcisse Girard conducting. Even though the second movement "March of the Pilgrims" received an encore, this performance contributed to Berlioz's decision to conduct his own music in the future.

Paganini did not hear the work he had commissioned until 16 December 1838; then he was so overwhelmed by it that, following the performance, he dragged Berlioz onto the stage and there knelt and kissed his hand before a wildly cheering audience and applauding musicians. A few days later he sent Berlioz a letter of congratulations, enclosing a bank draft for 20,000 francs.

Franz Liszt prepared a piano transcription (with viola accompaniment) of the work in 1836 (S.472).[7]

Notable performances

The first studio recording was made by RCA in 1944 with William Primrose and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky.

The piece was used in Terrence Malick's 2013 film To The Wonder, starring Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko. The film has several visual references to the composition's content and history.

Recordings

Harold en Italie has been frequently recorded.[10][11] Шаблон:Div col

Шаблон:Div col end

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Шаблон:Berlioz compositions Шаблон:Portalbar Шаблон:Authority control