Symphonie Fantastique
Encyclopedia
Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties (Fantastic Symphony: An Episode in the Life of an Artist, in Five Parts), Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz
in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic
period, and is still very popular with concert audiences worldwide. The first performance took place at the Paris Conservatoire in December 1830. The work was repeatedly revised between 1831 and 1845 and subsequently became a favourite in Paris.
s (2nd doubling piccolo
), 2 oboe
s (2nd doubling cor anglais
), 2 clarinet
s (1st doubling E-flat clarinet
), 4 bassoon
s, 4 horn
s, 2 trumpet
s, 2 cornet
s, 3 trombone
s, 2 ophicleide
s (originally one ophicleide and one serpent
, but modern scores call for 2 tuba
s, with the 1st part normally played on bass tuba and the 2nd part based on the choice of the player), 2 pairs of timpani
, snare drum
, cymbal
s, bass drum
, bell
s in C and G, 2 harp
s (each part doubled), and strings
.
which tells the story of "an artist gifted with a lively imagination" who has "poisoned himself with opium
" in the "depths of despair" because of "hopeless love." Berlioz provided his own program notes for each movement of the work (see below). He prefaces his notes with the following instructions:
There are five movements
, instead of the four movements which were conventional for symphonies at the time:
The first movement is radical in its harmonic outline, building a vast arch back to the home key, which, while similar to the sonata form
of classical composition, was taken as a departure by Parisian critics. It is here that the listener is introduced to the theme of the artist's beloved, or the idée fixe
. Throughout the movement, there is a simplicity of presentation of the melody and themes, which Robert Schumann
compared to "Beethoven's
epigrams", ideas which could be extended, had the composer chosen to. In part, it is because Berlioz rejected writing the very symmetrical melodies then in academic fashion, and instead looked for melodies which were, "so intense in every note, as to defy normal harmonization", as Schumann put it.
The theme itself was taken from Berlioz's scène lyrique "Herminie"
, composed in 1828.
The second movement has a mysterious sounding introduction that creates an atmosphere of impending excitement, followed by a passage dominated by two harps, then the flowing waltz theme appears, derived from the idée fixe at first, and then transforming it. It is filled with running ascending and descending figures. The idée fixe theme interrupts the waltz twice.
The movement is the only one to feature the two harps. The harps may well symbolize the object of affection, but certainly provide the glamour and sensual richness of the ball being represented. Berlioz wrote extensively in his memoirs of his trials and tribulations in getting this symphony performed due to supply or lack of capable harpists and harps, especially in Germany.
The two "shepherds" that Berlioz mentions in the notes are depicted with the English horn and offstage oboe tossing back and forth a characteristic melody. After the horn/oboe conversation has ended, the principal theme of the movement appears on solo flute and violins. Berlioz salvaged this theme from his abandoned Messe solennelle
. The idée fixe returns in the middle of the movement and is played by an oboe and a flute. The sound of distant thunder at the end of the movement is an innovative passage for four timpani
.
Berlioz claimed to have written the fourth movement in a single night, reconstructing music from an unfinished project, the opera Les francs-juges
. The movement begins with timpani sextuplets in thirds, for which he directs: "The first quaver of each half-bar is to be played with two drum sticks, and the other five with the right hand drum-sticks". The movement proceeds as a march filled with blaring horns and rushing passages, and scurrying figures which would later show up again in the last movement. Prior to the musical depiction of his execution, there is a brief, nostalgic recollection of the idée fixe in a solo clarinet
, as though representing the last conscious thought of the soon to be executed man. Immediately following this is a single short fortissimo
G minor chord is the fatal blow of the guillotine blade; the series of pizzicato notes following represents the rolling of the severed head into the basket. After his death, the final nine bars of the movement contain a victorious series of G major chords played by the entire orchestra, seemingly intended to convey the cheering of the onlooking throng.
This movement can be divided into sections according to tempo changes:
There are a host of effects, including eerie col legno
playing in the strings, the bubbling of the witches' cauldron to the blasts of wind. It is important to remember that Berlioz's use of the word "orgy" pertains to a cultic gathering and not the more modernized meaning. The climactic finale of the symphony combines the somber Dies Irae melody with the wild fugue of the Ronde du Sabbat.
He later adds:
As part of this he uses an example of cyclical structure
in music, which was an idea drawn from Beethoven
's use of similar rhythmic structures or shapes in his Fifth Symphony
, and the idea of musical "cycles", such as a "song cycle". Berlioz did not know of Mendelssohn
's Octet
, which also uses this device.
Leonard Bernstein
described the symphony as the first musical expedition into psychedelia because of its hallucinatory and dream-like nature, and because history suggests Berlioz composed at least a portion of it under the influence of opium
. According to Bernstein, "Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral."
In 1831, Berlioz wrote a lesser known sequel to the work, Lelio
, for actor, orchestra and chorus.
Franz Liszt
, who was on good terms with Berlioz, made a piano transcription of the work in 1833 (S.470).
, after attending a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet
with her in the role of Ophelia, on 11 September 1827. He sent her numerous love letters, all of which went unanswered. When she left Paris they had still not met. He then wrote the symphony as a way to express his unrequited love. It premiered in Paris on 5 December 1830; Harriet was not present. She eventually heard the work in 1832 and realized that she was the genesis. The two finally met and were married on 3 October 1833. Their marriage was increasingly bitter, and they separated after several years of unhappiness.
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
period, and is still very popular with concert audiences worldwide. The first performance took place at the Paris Conservatoire in December 1830. The work was repeatedly revised between 1831 and 1845 and subsequently became a favourite in Paris.
Instrumentation
The symphony is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 fluteFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s (2nd doubling piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
), 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s (2nd doubling cor anglais
Cor anglais
The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
), 2 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s (1st doubling E-flat clarinet
E-flat clarinet
The E-flat clarinet is a member of the clarinet family. It is usually classed as a soprano clarinet, although some authors describe it as a "sopranino" or even "piccolo" clarinet. Smaller in size and higher in pitch than the more common B clarinet, it is a transposing instrument in E, sounding a...
), 4 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, 4 horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s, 2 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, 2 cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
s, 3 trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, 2 ophicleide
Ophicleide
The ophicleide is a family of conical bore, brass keyed-bugles. It has a similar shape to the sudrophone.- History :The ophicleide was invented in 1817 and patented in 1821 by French instrument maker Jean Hilaire Asté as an extension to the keyed bugle or Royal Kent bugle family...
s (originally one ophicleide and one serpent
Serpent (instrument)
A serpent is a bass wind instrument, descended from the cornett, and a distant ancestor of the tuba, with a mouthpiece like a brass instrument but side holes like a woodwind. It is usually a long cone bent into a snakelike shape, hence the name. The serpent is closely related to the cornett,...
, but modern scores call for 2 tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
s, with the 1st part normally played on bass tuba and the 2nd part based on the choice of the player), 2 pairs of timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, snare drum
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
, cymbal
Cymbal
Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s, bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
, bell
Bell (instrument)
A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
s in C and G, 2 harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s (each part doubled), and strings
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
.
Outline
The symphony is a piece of program musicProgram music
Program music or programme music is a type of art music that attempts to musically render an extra-musical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience in the form of program notes, inviting imaginative correlations with the music...
which tells the story of "an artist gifted with a lively imagination" who has "poisoned himself with opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
" in the "depths of despair" because of "hopeless love." Berlioz provided his own program notes for each movement of the work (see below). He prefaces his notes with the following instructions:
The composer’s intention has been to develop various episodes in the life of an artist, in so far as they lend themselves to musical treatment. As the work cannot rely on the assistance of speech, the plan of the instrumental drama needs to be set out in advance. The following programme must therefore be considered as the spoken text of an opera, which serves to introduce musical movements and to motivate their character and expression.
There are five movements
Movement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...
, instead of the four movements which were conventional for symphonies at the time:
- Rêveries - Passions (Daydreams - Passions)
- Un bal (A ball)
- Scène aux champs (Scene in the Country)
- Marche au supplice (March to the Scaffold)
- Songe d'une nuit de sabbat (Dream of a Witches' Sabbath)
First movement: "Rêveries - Passions" (Reveries - Passions)
In Berlioz's own program notes from 1845, he writes:The first movement is radical in its harmonic outline, building a vast arch back to the home key, which, while similar to the sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
of classical composition, was taken as a departure by Parisian critics. It is here that the listener is introduced to the theme of the artist's beloved, or the idée fixe
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
. Throughout the movement, there is a simplicity of presentation of the melody and themes, which Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
compared to "Beethoven's
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
epigrams", ideas which could be extended, had the composer chosen to. In part, it is because Berlioz rejected writing the very symmetrical melodies then in academic fashion, and instead looked for melodies which were, "so intense in every note, as to defy normal harmonization", as Schumann put it.
The theme itself was taken from Berlioz's scène lyrique "Herminie"
Prix de Rome Cantatas (Berlioz)
The French composer Hector Berlioz made four attempts at winning the Prix de Rome music prize, finally succeeding in 1830. As part of the competition, he had to write a cantata to a text set by the examiners. Berlioz's efforts to win the prize are described at length in his Memoirs...
, composed in 1828.
Second movement: "Un bal"(A Ball)
Again, quoting from Berlioz's program notes:The second movement has a mysterious sounding introduction that creates an atmosphere of impending excitement, followed by a passage dominated by two harps, then the flowing waltz theme appears, derived from the idée fixe at first, and then transforming it. It is filled with running ascending and descending figures. The idée fixe theme interrupts the waltz twice.
The movement is the only one to feature the two harps. The harps may well symbolize the object of affection, but certainly provide the glamour and sensual richness of the ball being represented. Berlioz wrote extensively in his memoirs of his trials and tribulations in getting this symphony performed due to supply or lack of capable harpists and harps, especially in Germany.
Third movement: "Scène aux champs"(Scene in the Fields)
From Berlioz's program notes:The two "shepherds" that Berlioz mentions in the notes are depicted with the English horn and offstage oboe tossing back and forth a characteristic melody. After the horn/oboe conversation has ended, the principal theme of the movement appears on solo flute and violins. Berlioz salvaged this theme from his abandoned Messe solennelle
Messe solennelle (Berlioz)
Messe solennelle is a setting of the Catholic Solemn Mass by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It was written in 1824, when the composer was twenty, and first performed at the church of Saint-Roch, Paris on 25 July 1825, and again at the church of Saint-Eustache in 1827. After this, Berlioz...
. The idée fixe returns in the middle of the movement and is played by an oboe and a flute. The sound of distant thunder at the end of the movement is an innovative passage for four timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
.
Fourth movement: "Marche au supplice"(March to the Scaffold)
From Berlioz's program notes:Berlioz claimed to have written the fourth movement in a single night, reconstructing music from an unfinished project, the opera Les francs-juges
Les francs-juges
Les francs-juges is the title of an unfinished opera by the French composer Hector Berlioz written to a libretto by his friend Humbert Ferrand in 1826. The opera itself was abandoned by Berlioz, who destroyed most of the music...
. The movement begins with timpani sextuplets in thirds, for which he directs: "The first quaver of each half-bar is to be played with two drum sticks, and the other five with the right hand drum-sticks". The movement proceeds as a march filled with blaring horns and rushing passages, and scurrying figures which would later show up again in the last movement. Prior to the musical depiction of his execution, there is a brief, nostalgic recollection of the idée fixe in a solo clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, as though representing the last conscious thought of the soon to be executed man. Immediately following this is a single short fortissimo
Dynamics (music)
In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
G minor chord is the fatal blow of the guillotine blade; the series of pizzicato notes following represents the rolling of the severed head into the basket. After his death, the final nine bars of the movement contain a victorious series of G major chords played by the entire orchestra, seemingly intended to convey the cheering of the onlooking throng.
Fifth movement: "Songe d'une nuit de sabbat" (Dreams of a Witches' Sabbath)
From Berlioz's program notes:This movement can be divided into sections according to tempo changes:
- The introduction is at Largo, in common time, creating an ominous quality through dynamic variations and different instrumental effects, particularly in the strings (tremolos, pizz, sf to p).
- At bar 21, the time signature changes to 6/8, and the tempo to Allegro. The return of the idée fixe as a "vulgar dance tune" is depicted in the C clarinet. This is interrupted by an Allegro Assai section in cut common at bar 29.
- The idée fixe then returns as a prominent E-flat clarinet solo at bar 40, in 6/8 and Allegro. The E-flat clarinet contributes a shriller timbre than the C clarinet.
- At bar 80, there is one bar of cut common, with descending crotchets in unison through the entire orchestra. Again in 6/8, this section see the introduction of tubular bells and fragments of the "witches' round dance".
- The Dies irae begins at bar 127, the motif derived from a Gregorian chant. It is initially stated in unison between 4 bassoons and 2 tubas.
- At bar 222, the "witches' round dance" motif is stated again and again in the strings, to be interrupted by 3 syncopated, dotted crotchets in the brass. This leads into the Ronde du Sabbat (Sabbath Round) at bar 241, where the motif is finally expressed in full
- The Dies irae et Ronde du Sabbat Ensemble section occurs at bar 414.
There are a host of effects, including eerie col legno
Col legno
In music for bowed string instruments, col legno, or more precisely col legno battuto , is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow, rather than by drawing the hair of the bow across the strings. This results in a quiet but eerie percussive sound.Col legno is used in the final...
playing in the strings, the bubbling of the witches' cauldron to the blasts of wind. It is important to remember that Berlioz's use of the word "orgy" pertains to a cultic gathering and not the more modernized meaning. The climactic finale of the symphony combines the somber Dies Irae melody with the wild fugue of the Ronde du Sabbat.
- The aim of the second kind of imitation, as we have said before, is to reproduce the intonations of the passions and the emotions, and even to trace a musical image, or metaphor, of objects that can only be seen.
He later adds:
- ...Emotional (imitation) is designed to arouse in us by means of sound the notion of the several passions of the heart, and to awaken solely through the sense of hearing the impressions that human beings experience only through the other senses. Such is the goal of expression, depiction or musical metaphors.
As part of this he uses an example of cyclical structure
Cyclic form
Cyclic form is a technique of musical construction, involving multiple sections or movements, in which a theme, melody, or thematic material occurs in more than one movement as a unifying device. Sometimes a theme may occur at the beginning and end Cyclic form is a technique of musical...
in music, which was an idea drawn from Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's use of similar rhythmic structures or shapes in his Fifth Symphony
Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata, an andante, and a fast...
, and the idea of musical "cycles", such as a "song cycle". Berlioz did not know of Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's Octet
Octet (Mendelssohn)
Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 was composed in the autumn of 1825 , when the composer was aged 16. He wrote it as a birthday gift for his friend and violin teacher Eduard Rietz ; it was slightly revised in 1832 before the first public performance on 30 January 1836 at the...
, which also uses this device.
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
described the symphony as the first musical expedition into psychedelia because of its hallucinatory and dream-like nature, and because history suggests Berlioz composed at least a portion of it under the influence of opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
. According to Bernstein, "Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral."
In 1831, Berlioz wrote a lesser known sequel to the work, Lelio
Lelio
Lélio, ou le Retour à la Vie Op. 14b is a work incorporating music and spoken text by the French composer Hector Berlioz, intended as a sequel to his Symphonie fantastique...
, for actor, orchestra and chorus.
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, who was on good terms with Berlioz, made a piano transcription of the work in 1833 (S.470).
Harriet Smithson
Berlioz fell in love with an Irish actress, Harriet SmithsonHarriet Smithson
Henrietta Constance Smithson was an Anglo-Irish actress, the first wife of Hector Berlioz, and the inspiration for his Symphonie Fantastique....
, after attending a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
with her in the role of Ophelia, on 11 September 1827. He sent her numerous love letters, all of which went unanswered. When she left Paris they had still not met. He then wrote the symphony as a way to express his unrequited love. It premiered in Paris on 5 December 1830; Harriet was not present. She eventually heard the work in 1832 and realized that she was the genesis. The two finally met and were married on 3 October 1833. Their marriage was increasingly bitter, and they separated after several years of unhappiness.
Media
- European Archive Copyright free LP recording of the Symphonie fantastique by Willem van Otterloo (conductor) and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (for non-American viewers only) at the European Archive.
External links
- Symphonie Fantastique on The Hector Berlioz Website, with links to Scorch full score and program note written by the composer
- Keeping Score: Berlioz Symphonie fantastique Multimedia website with interactive score produced by the San Francisco SymphonySan Francisco SymphonyThe San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
- Symphonie Fantastique at the Internet Archive, performed by the Cleveland Orchestra, Artur Rodzinski conducting.