Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - March To The Scaffold

[@nicobambino191]

They played this at my execution. It was a fun time.

[@usernameschecksout]

Same tho

[@jenniferl.8111]

Nico Bambino haha

[@lovinescu7260]

Same xD

[@ETMargraf]

Same:)

[@donaldsneed4356]

It's really nice to my ears

[@derekmulready1523]

The absolute best replacement for the wedding march

[@kurthoesly890]

literally laughing out loud right now...and getting strange looks from the people around me...

[@empressofherteatable]

That's hilarious!

[@alexalestareon695]

GOD YES

[@jasoncreed6396]

Lol soo true

[@alishaodoms1216]

lol

[@minolssss]

As a bassoon player I can safely say this is one of the craziest pieces I have ever played, but it's brilliant if you can get it right :)

[@AntonioRiosecoGuitar]

As I once read : this Basoon line never get old!! Bravo Berlioz, a true Genius!

[@stephaniebermont2668]

im a high school violin player currently (2022) and we’re playing this for a full orchestra concert!

[@cminor3016]

Omg! Thank you

[@KyleAnimates]

Wait till u hear thr 5th mvmt

[@geraldpriest635]

NBC played part of this movement when they showed/aired the impeachment hearings of Nixon in 1973. Viewers of the Rachel Maddow show noticed it and called it in to her.

[@joeschmow8919]

I'm here and listening due to Rachel Maddow.

[@DarrylConliffe]

Same thing happened last year with Joy Reid. Still, nailed it! www.democraticunderground.com/100211599985

[@suedolsky4972]

This is my 3rd Impeachment!

[@vnsv-ei9gh]

Wait till they play this at GITMO and we get to see who really is being marched...

[@GarryDumblowski]

@@vnsv-ei9gh Hot damn, dude. You can disagree with someone politically and not advocate for them being brutally tortured for the rest of their lives.

[@Tempdoom]

The bassoons in this have excellent tone and are really well together!

[@KACYFURRU]

4:12 when the head gets chopped off and rolls. then the flourish after is the crowd cheering.

[@MahnoorQadri3825]

Kacy Furru blglgbghlhlegehh

[@stevendhart3420]

I saw this concert and I legit lost it laughing after the crowd started cheering.

[@riell.4021]

THAT FUKIN SCARED ME

[@Appa77]

I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who knows the history/meaning of this piece

[@samweinhouse7769]

clarinet solo at the end is so awesome

[@Donseycat]

my music teacher said this was the 'idee fixe' - the return to the fixed idea (lover) before death

[@gogomonow]

That doesn't sound clarinet

[@aylabrasfield7458]

i get to play the solo at my upcoming concert im so excited

[@frankiecotzec8636]

@@aylabrasfield7458 how was it?

[@leahsincelejo7641]

@@gogomonow it is. The clarinet is speaking the last words before the decap.

[@TheActionBrick]

If I ever get executed, I hope I at least get to hear this piece when it happens.

[@jackduncan4228]

The Action Brick Ian Brady declared his wish for Berlioz’ dance of the witches to be played at his cremation. It was denied by the home office. I played it for him when I knew the flames were licking his coffin.

[@friedrichschopenhauer2900]

Jack Duncan I mean fuck Ian Brady to be sure, but he was actually a pretty smart guy. Terrible and useless, but clever.

[@jackduncan4228]

Friedrich Schopenhauer Yeah, that’s how I feel about him. He was a genuine creep, the lowest of the low. But he was very much above the average IQ. I read his book ‘The Gates Of Janus’ which I had to order from America as it’s banned here in the UK. He did not mention any of his own crimes but gave his feelings on the actions of a number of other serial killers. It was chilling and eye opening. I know a Psychiatrist who worked at Ashford High Security Mental Hospital for some time and interviewed Brady. He told me it was like being in the presence of something inhuman. He said “I’m a psychiatrist and shouldn’t feel this way about someone, but I do feel from my meetings with Brady and his silly little cat and mouse games he’d play, always taking huge pleasure in ‘getting one over on the staff’ however insignificant and small it was, I looked into his eyes at moments like this and saw nothing but contempt behind those emotionless coal black eyes, he was evil. That’s how I feel. He is the only patient I’ve ever met that I’ve felt that way about”. He was such a clever yet screwed up individual, I’m fascinated by such people. What happened to them to make them so deeply cold hearted and merciless, so depraved and perverted?

[@friedrichschopenhauer2900]

Jack Duncan Interesting. I've read some of 'The Gates of Janus' as well, and I remember hearing or reading somewhere that part of the reason he basically refused to talk about his own crimes at great length, or indeed even to think of his victims' pain and fear, was because it would have been "psychological suicide", or something similar.

[@bennettmitchell8883]

Good meme

[@puckering1]

This is my favorite movement from this fantastic symphony!

[@DarthCrimsonDeath]

Thanks to Rachel and her audience, I am playing this on a nonstop loop through the hearings.

[@UseCommonSensePLS]

Marching to the scaffold because the woman he thought he loved was actually an actor. So he imagined killing her. when the tune changes at 4:05 it represents his last thoughts about her before being guillotined. 4:12 is the blade of the guillotine being dropped. The plop plop afterwards represents the head falling on the ground.

[@teeheemining8992]

This piece is about a man who took a drug that made him hallucinate in his sleep. He drempt about watching himself getting his head chopped off.

[@jacksonstrickland9609]

That pretty much sums it up

[@stefiandrade5554]

+teeheemining it was about a guy thinking about his lovely wife, but then gets his head chopped off since he commited a crime

[@sirdouglashaig967]

I believe he took the opium in hopes of killing himself, but it failed and he dreamt to him killing his wife and then getting sent to the Guillotine for it. I think that's how it went, I may be wrong

[@Pingucado]

Otto Von Bismarck not his wife but the woman with who he is madly in love with. It's inspired by Berlioz experience with an actress he loved but that didn't love him and didn't noticed him. He wrote down his broken heard in this masterpiece called symphonie fantastique. :)

[@dopplerfox]

teeheemining - Yeah my Nan told me that when it was playing.

[@carloscarabello7931]

This was one I listened to a lot for a music appreciation course. If you listen carefully, you can tell when the guillotine drops.

[@getmilked6216]

yeah

[@anonymoussecret5948]

Nah no need to be careful. It is purposely obvious. And the head bouncing too.

[@voidsaverob]

What is a music appreciation course?

[@voidsaverob]

k

[@ClassicalMusic2002]

It is a course where you learn to appreciate the finer aspects of music. You don't just listen to the music; you delve into the creative mind of the composer and attempt to understand it. Bluntly, it is reading comprehension for music.

[@theyellowentity9668]

We had this song for band once. In the concert he said the tune won’t be so happy if you knew what a scaffold was.

[@BeatlesRock0125]

Yes, the bassoon is awesome!!!!!! I played this in Chamber music workshop and one bassoonist could play it perfectly. It sounded amazing. I also like the one clarinet solo. It's basically the only time you can hear the clarinet and it's beautiful.

[@seasonjackson4121]

I love the beginning part of this piece. Amazing.

[@joutatheegg]

oh my gosh! I did a field show inspired around this song my sophomore year! It was called Le Guillotine (it was about the reign of terror/ the french revolution if you couldn't tell just by the name lol) and it had most of the main themes in this arrangement. If I remember correctly, our band director said that March of the scaffold was one of her favorite songs. Im pretty sure I still have the sheet music as well as a video of the actual field show. (I may post an unlisted video with the link here if any of you fellow band/music geeks would like to see it) I cant believe I actually found the song though! :)

[@ak-bb9nz]

Ik it's been three years but if you have the music still can we see it pls

[@spencerandersen271]

Love the march starting at 1:30, it reminds me a lot of Star Wars. Can't help but imagine Berlioz pulling out his lightsaber and setting himself free. Alas, opium-induced dreams never end heroically. ;)

[@jackmolay7061]

Spencer Andersen yes they do, many of mine have. I often smoke opium when I am in Macao on the border of China. Macao is famous for three things:- gambling, it manufactures dildos and vibrators on a huge scale and it is famous for its excellent opium. Opium is rare these days as there is much more profit in heroin. However, many rich Chinese and others who come to Macao want to smoke opium. It does induce a reverie and a beautiful dream like state.

[@xaf0163]

clever

[@jerryxu521]

I want 1:30 to be my entrance music. Berlioz isn't given nearly enough credit as a composer.

[@koko134526]

If there was a facepalm emoticon I would be using it right now.

[@jerryxu521]

Really, Shlok? People like you cannot understand something this great.

[@sanojnagaranthal7052]

Dats harsh bro

[@jerryxu521]

Yes, but it's true.

[@sanojnagaranthal7052]

😕

[@Banana361]

our high school band played this & just the song itself is simply amazing. we did great. we got straight one's at contest. Everyone loves the song. & the quite interesting story behind it

[@bananabot151]

Me too, festival in a couple days, I can't wait

[@teeheemining8992]

This is an amazing piece. About 60 of us students from west Sussex music played this in a concert at lodge hill yesterday and it sounded incredible!

[@Auramus]

4:00 alright it's about to end, wonder what he's gonna do here - oh a flute, how cut-BAP!!!

[@tsrorst2792]

I went to a fantastic concert with this piece. One of the best I've ever experienced, for the story if not for the music.

[@alenkavenx2056]

Fun fact: Berlioz is one of the few composers that couldn't play piano

[@someopinion2846]

But he played guitar, though. You can tell.

[@Deborah-ck3jq]

And flute

[@paullewis2413]

Also one of the most extraordinary and visionary composers of all time so clearly being a pianist is not de-rigueur.

[@TrulyBlessed-jph]

So you mean one of the few?

[@XoticExotic]

Cool

[@michaelguido1660]

Just the fact that this dude was cracked out when he wrote this makes it so much better

[@katiefarrell5332]

The idée fixe is my favourite thing about this entire symphony but it’s the best in this movement. So out of line with the rest of the orchestra

[@beauthedorito_6070]

playing this piece in my orchestra, love playing it

[@j4d0n]

I LOVE the sudden brass entrance.

[@annauwuu]

This piece is fantastique !

[@annasanderson2819]

My favorite piece

[@claudiuvartolomei3900]

Louis Hector Berlioz a fost un compozitor, scriitor și critic francez. A avut o contribuție importantă în conturarea romantismului francez. Contribuția lui constă în promovarea unei noi estetici muzicale, care presupune existența unor mijloace expresive. Wikipedia Născut: 11 decembrie 1803, La Côte-Saint-André, Franța Decedat: 8 martie 1869, rue de Calais, Paris, Franța Instrument(e): chitară Gen muzical: operă; simfonie; muzică clasică Filme: Faust aux enfers Compoziții Simfonia fantastică Les Troyens La damnation de Faust

[@claudiuvartolomei3900]

His output includes orchestral works such as the Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy, choral pieces including the Requiem.

[@claudiuvartolomei3900]

It is a program symphony, 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. A classic example is Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, which relates a series of morbid fantasies concerning the unrequited love of a sensitive poet involving murder, execution, and the torments of Hell.

[@GigawingsVideo]

That's nice to hear. As both classical musics and ponies fan I find it nice to see a youtube comment thread with no people spouting hate and bigotry.

[@elixir8881]

Mucho love to Berlioz and to the kind soul that shared this recording!

[@RobertKimballartist]

This was the theme song on NBC for the Watergate trials. It was very appropriate for that. I should be used in this impeachment too to send a signal.

[@soniclikers123]

So happy I get to play this piece in my marching show.

[@AbbyPowellabstractabbymusic]

We're playing this in concert season lol

[@karah6011]

I'm playing it with my youth orchestra as a clarinet player! I get the solo at the end =]

[@flamedragon360]

we're playing this song in my schools marching band this year

[@mellomagnum7120]

+flamedragon360 What school do you go to? My school played this too

[@Saxshoe]

Legacy is doing this as well.

[@julesblouzard828]

Well, everybody wants to die in the comments section

[@abrahampalmer1153]

Lol sad but true

[@dianenalam7526]

Yeah,Im confused

[@urbaneriksson9781]

I guess it's just a matter of fact that we will die.

[@jb47vintage]

Lol 😄

[@matthewv789]

This is a smashing performance. Such great, raw sounds that you don't hear in many others. Fantastically recorded.

[@donaldwatson7698]

I used to own a recording of this piece done entirely by a professional percussion ensemble. Amazing interpretation that really brought the macabre nature of the piece to the forefront.

[@Mosdeftito23]

Fantastic delivery of music by Hector Berlioz. I especially like the French Horns with the timpani which opens the movement!

[@thecalebmtz7602]

Darth Plagueis the wise listens to classical music ?!😱

[@saintexupery8406]

Rachel Maddow tonight stating this was the intro music for the start of the Watergate Senate hearings...and tomorrow is the start of the trumpoop impeachment hearings.

[@olatherapy]

Wonderful performance!

[@songflower16]

i remember playing this in 7th grade...! i remember the fingerings and everything (i play trumpet and im a sophmore) thank you for posting! gives me chills everytime!

[@spaghettisheepdog]

how's life as an adult? I'm a sophomore now :)

[@songflower16]

@@spaghettisheepdog adult life is good, thanks for checking :) I hope you're enjoying your time in school!

[@cheesy_triggo373]

i loved playing this ong - a cellist

[@JAZZHS]

Same❤

[@Shvanseedseedseed]

أكثر من رائع

[@nathanmaxwell1195]

I'm playing this for Salem Youth Symphony (tuba), and I practice my part with this recording. Thanks!!!!!!

[@yourladydisdain]

I'm just now learning how to play bass and alto clarinet (in my third year of college, no less) and my first experience playing bass was on this piece. HOLY CRAP I'M HOOKED.

[@DangerBoatPro]

This song was played at my college graduation ceremony. Right before pomp and circumstance.

[@robertperez2262]

Irony…

[@catherinekelly532]

We love Berlioz!

[@abramabesamis23]

ahhh, the viola parts are soo... LOVELY!!

[@AWPtical800]

This perfectly depicts my situation in one of my college classes...

[@alexandermendoza6592]

great piece of music so hyped to play this at my concert

[@blacktowerjake]

Evidently NBC played this as their intro music to Nixon's impeachment trial. Maybe we will hear it again.

[@kathrynwitte3398]

blacktowerjake he didn’t have a trial. He only had indictment hearings. It never went to the Senate where the trial is held because Nixon knew they had the votes and the will to remove him.

[@FrankCoffman]

@Malk Von Batshit ~ In other words, you're ignorant and/or brainwashed. We can't play this music when asshole Trump leaves office because he won't leave. He's planning to be a dictator for life.

[@khamaji09]

DIS MUSIC sounds joyful to me

[@rykmeurer]

best composer ever

[@JT-uc4ll]

Just wonderful

[@musicschmusic]

This was sent to my 15 year old son who's on his way to the gallows. Ok, he's taking his World History II final tomorrow. We should all walk around with our own theme music. Good luck, son!

[@dylancrozier84]

I hope he passed his final

[@musicschmusic]

Thanks, he did!!

[@SheWolf_Warrior]

@@musicschmusic Wow! You replied 10 years later! You even remembered if he passed a test he took a decade ago! I'm kind of impressed!

[@haileesantora9339]

Recently played this piece, we didn't nail it, but we gave it our all.

[@MrStupidfresh1]

+Maggie Day Screw you, this song is hard to perform dynamically for some bands.

[@MrStupidfresh1]

watch your tongue child

[@ronnie3235]

+AHVB23 lmao. "Child" said the 2 year old

[@MrStupidfresh1]

only 2 year olds paint their faces soo...

[@bekahre]

+Llama Girl phan

[@treblebat]

The Clarinet in 4:05 is pure awesomeness!!!!!

[@TheVaughan5]

Recently heard a performance of Symphonie Fantastique by Orchestre de Paris cond. Paavo Jarvi. There is something very special about the brass section in this orchestra which is just perfect for Berlioz, maybe it's the acoustics of the Salle Pleyel, don't know but it's the best!!

[@SabriiAnderson]

Love the decision to mute the horns at the beginning. Powerful, grinding texture

[@jesseichikawa2167]

Im with you guys

[@olvinjavier1]

Thank you Rachael Maddow 😅

[@CHEWYPROOF]

Love the song currently playing it in my highschool string orchestra. Though do also love it's back story

[@Sorain1]

And now I finally know what that Raven's name is a reference to, and why that level is named 'Marche au supplice' in Armored Core 4. When your going to do theme naming developers, consider doing it like this, so that people will find classics they might have never had the chance to experience otherwise.

[@1MichaelGravino1]

I used to play this piece to my students just before a major test

[@jackduncan4228]

I dream of seeing Britain’s Royal family driven down the Mall in London in an old turnip cart to a waiting scaffold and the guillotine to this beautiful, evocative piece of music.

[@fr-hh8yn]

if you ever want to prove to someone, which is very hard, that classical and metal are the two most closely related genres of music. Have them listen to Ghost-He Is or Avatar-Fiddlers Farewell. They won't believe they are metal songs

[@JoColonnelloKurtz]

the bass trombone is really fun!!!

[@jordanabila63]

According to someone, he was high and had some vision and wrote this song about watching híñale hey murdered, the clarinet solo at the end is his last plea for mercy while the end notes are his head rolling on the ground apprently

[@Tempdoom]

I'm playing this in an orchestra, and in the last few measures of the piece it says clearly "Head falls off" and i laughed soooo hard haha

[@BeatlesRock0125]

Well said. I was mad when the first clarinetest played that part and not me. Oh well. I guess I just have to work harder to be first chair. I love this song!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MedievalRichard]

Splendid. MR

[@jakobbenoit9649]

Someone in the NBC News production department, 46 years ago, had a rather macabre sense of humor! LOLOLOL! I say, CUE UP AN ENCORE PERFORMANCE FOR THE OPENING TOMORROW MORNING!!!

[@taylor_h796]

Everybody gangsta until 4:12

[@rintuono]

I am reaearching this song for a project in my music tech class. This piece has such a weird story that goes with it...

[@Tiggergirl8D]

hot dang im so glad my director didn't make me play the solo

[@Tiggergirl8D]

well he is now

[@lucariotheawesome]

Good luck. You'll need it.

[@dylancrozier84]

I hope you did good on your solo

[@Tiggergirl8D]

@@dylancrozier84 That was 7 years ago and it was the most fun one he made me play as a terrified freshman

[@dylancrozier84]

@@Tiggergirl8D yeah we're playing this in my band class and I pity our bassoons.

[@MichelCarroll]

Awesome!

[@desaprado6243]

The music is so beautiful😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

[@goldfinch8218]

suggesting for this to be the senior song for my graduation next year

[@dawnpierce6093]

I love this peice

[@desertfox1273]

Oh please give me Chopin! This composer wears me out! I think my head hurts!

[@blacklilkitten]

doing this in our symphony orchestra atm and loving the the dramaticness of it (:

[@desaprado6243]

I really love that

[@satya6030]

omg slay hector

[@Succer]

We're playing this in Wind Ensemble and it's lit 👌👌👌

[@YenneyRossi]

Semplicemente meravigliosa e stupenda interpretazione ♥

[@chrissyjaneldacoag6989]

Can you draw your interpretation for this

[@andrew_li]

This piece is a freaking horror story.

[@Natenat138]

I have to learn this on double bass for concert band at my high school. this'll be the first song i learn. insane

[@VincenzoLaSpesa]

Se Berlioz fosse nato in questo secolo sarebbe stato un metallaro :D

[@abrahampalmer1153]

Awesome

[@GabbyStJean7]

Actually it's about a dream he had while under heavy drugs and during part of this he has an idee fixe for his beloved so actually it would be lovely to have part of this played at your wedding.

[@jackmolay7061]

I love Berlioz. Sadly underrated. I can just imagine someone being taken in a turnip truck through baying mobs to the guillotine as I listen to this. Quite apart from that imagery it is a fantastic (pun intended) piece of music from a truly awe inspiring symphony.

[@_.enanan._]

Don’t mind dis 0:00 0:25 0:49 1:13 1:30 1:55 2:01 2:11 2:41 2:41 2:49 3:02 3:28 3:49 4:04 4:16

[@harpirishdance]

This one is challenging and fun to conduct. :)

[@dynalmite]

This makes me want to frolic in a poppy field in the springtime 🥰

[@fishwhosmokesopium6645]

Hahah its about an execution

[@carrieletac5168]

When i played this song my mama said ''gagraduate kana ba nakong''that time i realized that this song is also music for graduates😅bigla nalng akong natawa

[@TheHeadshotM]

We have to learn this for our school performance.

[@MrAtlantos]

@lostinspace94 I knew the story differently. I was told the guy was Berlioz himself. The first movement is kind of a description of Berlioz's love. The next two movements are like a dream in which Berlioz is with the woman he loves, and everything is perfect. Then, on the fourth movement, she is found guilty of a crime and executed (supposedly Berlioz tried to commit suicide while making this movement). On the last movement, he revives her, but she comes back as a witch.

[@GleamingMoons]

From Classic Fm Website: Why is it human nature to want what we can’t have? In 1827, the 23-year-old Hector Berlioz attended a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Odéon Theatre in Paris; Harriet Smithson, a charismatic Irish actress, was playing Ophelia. Berlioz was smitten and wrote her an impassioned letter - Smithson did not reply. Undeterred, he continued to bombard her with messages but she left Paris without making contact. Berlioz wrote to a friend: “You don’t know what love is, whatever you may say. For you, it’s not that rage, that fury, that delirium which takes possession of all one’s faculties, which renders one capable of anything.” The composer had to find an outlet for his obsessive love - naturally, that was music. He formed the idea of a “fantastic symphony” portraying an episode in the life of an artist who is constantly haunted by the vision of the perfect, unattainable woman. Central to the work is the "idée fixe" (“fixed idea”), a recurring theme of rising longing and falling despair - a depiction of gripping obsession and the epitome of Romanticism. Symphonie Fantastique is cast in five movements: the first a dream, the second a ball where the artist is haunted by the sight of his beloved. After a country scene, the fourth movement slips into nightmare: “Convinced that his love is spurned, the artist poisons himself with opium,” explained Berlioz. “The dose of narcotic plunges him into a heavy sleep. He dreams that he has killed his beloved, that he is condemned, led to the scaffold and is witnessing his own execution.” Now everything descends into the thrillingly horrific Dream Of A Witches’ Sabbath, which weaves in the medieval Dies Irae plainchant. The artist’s perfect beloved transforms into a whore and is cast into Hell (symbolically, perhaps, for Smithson was rumoured to be having an affair with her manager at the time). Symphonie Fantastique was premiered in 1830 but Smithson did not hear the work until 1832, when she realised she might be the inspiration for it. Intrigued, she agreed to meet the composer and was blown away by the force of his emotion. Despite neither speaking the other’s language, Harriet and Hector married on October 3, 1833. Happy ever after? Sadly, no - the obsession faded and they divorced seven years later. So did Berlioz actually take opium or was Symphonie Fantastique the result of a fevered imagination? If he did, it’s a cautionary tale - as Bernstein put it: “Berlioz tells it like it is. Now there was an honest man. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral.”