The Ide Fixe of Symphonie fantastique is a MASTERPIECE.
The idée fixe, a theme that appears in all five of his movements, lend unity to the piece as a whole.I thought that the idée fixe was a combination of operatic leitmotifs and the ritornellos used in sonatas.The idée fixe was a way for Berlioz to represent Harriet and was sometimes used to remind the audience of a particular person or object.The idée fixe was repeated in his five movements, just like composers repeated themes to unify their symphonies.
Berlioz combines the opera leitmotif with the symphony's repetition of themes, but he takes these tools a step further by varying them and complicating them in each movement.He has to mold her idée fixe in each movement to convey how she changes or how he feels towards her.The plot is communicated by the change of the idée fixe.
He uses the flute and strings in the first movement of the idée fixe.The idée fixe is a soft and warm sound.Berlioz experiences emotional change with respect to his feelings for this woman.The idée fixe is presented differently at 7:44.I feel an escalation and tension here, which is more dramatic than at 5:08.The staccato sound of a string instrument is present in between the first idée fixe melody at 5:11 and 5:17, but it does not overlap with the main melody.This same strings sound overlaps with the idée fixe, and another texture is added on top of these.The idée fixe here is busy and polyphonic, which makes it sound more tense than its earlier counterpart.
In the second movement, we hear the idée fixe once again, and while it begins slowly and calmly, it is then quickly complicated by the addition of overlap instruments.The idée fixe melody is dominated by a deeper wind instrument compared to the softer sounds of the strings and flute in the first movement.I sense a tension through the deeper sounds as well as the tenderness in Berlioz's view of Harriet.
The idée fixe returns in the third movement, but is accompanied by sounds of a dark affect.The solo instrument gently produces the idée fixe, but it is interrupted at 7:17.The soft idée fixe is interrupted once again at 7:30.This sort of back-and-forth between the soft idée fixe and the harsh sounds that interrupt it continues until 7:37 when they both overlap, generating simultaneous, conflicting emotions in me.The pleasant idée fixe was drowned out by the dark sounds.He communicated a plot to us through his music by creating a struggle between the idée fixe and a darker melody.We can tell that there is a darker side to his love.
The use of the idée fixe is dramatic in the fourth movement.We don't hear the theme until the very end at 4:11 and it is almost immediately interrupted by a large orchestra.The solo instrument that was playing the idée fixe was completely drowned out by this orchestra.In the fourth movement, the idée fixe does not engage in a back-and-forth struggle with the darker sounds.The idée fixe doesn't fight back.
The nature of the idée fixe is changed after the crash.This can be seen in the fifth movement.The idée fixe is heard in this final movement.It doesn't flow as smoothly as it did in the first movement.It presents as an odd sound.The melody of the idée fixe went from a pleasant sound to engaging in a struggle with darker, more dissonant sounds, and then finally being forced to change form in the fifth movement.Through the idée fixe, Berlioz creates the plot of a love story and, for me, completely changes the use of leitmotif and sonata-like devices.