FANTASTIQUE

Hector Berlioz was a great admirer of German music, relishing in particular the intellectual depth he found in Beethoven’s symphonies. + Carl Maria von Weber provided Berlioz with an equal level of inspiration, his orchestration of von Weber’s Aufforderung zum Tanz directly expressing his reverence of the German composer. + Combining Beethoven’s wealth of ideas with the innovative and “characteristic” sound effects he encountered in von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz, Berlioz created in the Symphonie Fantastique an eminently personal work clearly departing from his musical role models.