The Idée Fixe vs The LeitmotivBerlioz (1803 - 1869) & Wagner (1813 - 1883)

Both terms refer to roughly the same musical idea: Idée fixe - a fixed even obsessive ideaLeitmotiv - a leading or recurring idea

A leitmotif is a recurring musical theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is usually a short melody, a chord progression or even a simple rhythm. Leitmotivs create unity in a piece and enable the composer to relate a story without the use of words.Both words are generally used when talking about dramatic works, especially operas, although leitmotivs are also used in other musical genres, such as instrumental pieces, cinema and video game music. The Darth Vader theme is an excellent example of a leitmotiv composed by John Williams.

The idée fixe is mostly known from the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz composed in 1830. In Berlioz's own program notes from 1845, he writes:

The author imagines that a young musician, afflicted by the sickness of spirit which a famous writer has called the vagueness of passions (le vague des passions), sees for the first time a woman who unites all the charms of the ideal person his imagination was dreaming of, and falls desperately in love with her. By a strange anomaly, the beloved image never presents itself to the artistʼs mind without being associated with a musical idea, in which he recognises a certain quality of passion, but endowed with the nobility and shyness which he credits to the object of his love.

This melodic image and its model keep haunting him ceaselessly like a double idée fixe. This explains the constant recurrence in all the movements of the symphony of the melody which launches the first allegro. The transitions from this state of dreamy melancholy, interrupted by occasional upsurges of aimless joy, to delirious passion, with its outbursts of fury and jealousy, its returns of tenderness, its tears, its religious consolations – all this forms the subject of the first movement.

As the piece progresses Berliozʼs use of the idee fixe changes with the story of the work until the fifth movement: "Songe d'une nuit de sabbat" where:

He sees himself at a witchesʼ sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come together for his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter; distant shouts which seem to be answered by more shouts. The beloved melody appears once more, but has now lost its noble and shy character; it is now no more than a vulgar dance tune, trivial and grotesque: it is she who is coming to the sabbath… Roar of delight at her arrival… She joins the diabolical orgy… The funeral knell tolls, burlesque parody of the Dies irae, the dance of the witches. The dance of the witches combined with the Dies Irae.

The return of the idée fixe as a "vulgar dance tune" is depicted with a prominent E-flat clarinet solo. 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. The climactic finale of the

The Romantic Era Stage 5" Name ...................................... Class ..............

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitmotif2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonie_fantastique3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Idee_fixe.PNG4. http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/fantas.htm5. http://allenbdunningmd.com/ringthemes/09-Valhalla/Valhalla%20Chapter.htm 1

symphony combines the somber Dies Irae melody with the wild fugue of the Ronde du Sabbat (Sabbath Round).

Berliozʼ idée fixe is first heard at bar 72 in the first movement:

In the fifth movement this idee fixe becomes distorted and is used to represent an ʻdiabolicalʼ version of who it once represented.

The Dies Irae comes in with tubular bells and low brass. View the printed score (p108-109) to hear its use in the Symphonie Fantastique.

Here is the original Dies Irae tune from the latin mass:

The Romantic Era Stage 5" Name ...................................... Class ..............

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitmotif2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonie_fantastique3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Idee_fixe.PNG4. http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/fantas.htm5. http://allenbdunningmd.com/ringthemes/09-Valhalla/Valhalla%20Chapter.htm 2

Leitmotiv...The Romantic period was a period of social upheavals. It was heightened by Napoleon Bonaparteʼs French Revolution and threatened by the bubonic plague causing society to plunge into dire states. The Romantic opera was therefore characterised by its expression of the beauty and terror of Nature, the power of evil and the supernatural, the purity of rural life and the concepts of liberation with which every romantic was preoccupied. The composers often (but not always) wrote passionate melodies that expressed extreme emotions of a character. These were known to bring the audiences into a crying frenzy.Though there were some composers who kept their operas tiny, but most of them loved gigantic compositions that could dazzle the audiences. Such as Wagnerʼs The Ring Cycle.

Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years from 1848 to 1874. The four operas that constitute the Ring cycle are in the order of the imagined events they portray:

• Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold)• Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)• Siegfried• Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)

The opera endures four distinct performances of 4 hours each, with some of the most famous leitmotivs ever written.

Task

Visit: http://www.well.com/user/woodman/singthing/ring/themusic.html

(or http://www.trell.org/wagner/motifs.html)

And write a brief description of each of Wagnerʼs Ring Cycle themes using the 6 concepts of music.

The Romantic Era Stage 5" Name ...................................... Class ..............

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitmotif2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonie_fantastique3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Idee_fixe.PNG4. http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/fantas.htm5. http://allenbdunningmd.com/ringthemes/09-Valhalla/Valhalla%20Chapter.htm 3