While there are some examples of PROGRAMME MUSIC earlier in musical
history, it was in the ROMANTIC period that it became very common.
Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique is a good example, telling the story of
an artist's doomed love for an unattainable woman, ending in her murder
and the artist's going to Hell, in the form of a SYMPHONY (albeit in 5
movements rather than the CLASSICAL 4). It is also typically ROMANTIC in
its themes of extreme emotion, Nature (the third movement represents a
scene in the countryside, including a thunderstorm) and the Supernatural
(in Hell, the artist witnesses a witches' sabbath.)
One more typically
ROMANTIC concept: Berlioz uses a LEITMOTIV to represent the artist's
beloved: in this excerpt, it is heard on the clarinet at 2.15. The
excerpt comes from the second movement, which represents a ball, hence
the waltz rhythms.
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