Berlioz Part Songs HANDBOOK

Part Songs of Hector Berlioz (1803-1869):
Table of Contents:
Le Ballet des ombres: Ronde nocturne (A Dance of Ghosts: A Midnight Revel)
Chant Guerrier
Prière du Matin- chœur d’enfants
L’apothéose
Suitable for: Elementary School, Middle School, Men’s Chorus, Highschool (Intermediate to
Advanced) and College
Our Favorites: Le ballet des ombres, L’apothéose
Historical Context:
France is somewhat of a mess in the 19th century. Napoleon is declared emperor in 1804, the Bourbon
kings are restored in 1814, the Waterloo defeat occurs in 1815, the July Revolution occurs in 1830, a
European revolution occurs in 1848, creating a Second Republic, Napoleon III establishes at second
empire in 1852, and a third republic is established with the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.1
Berlioz loved literature: he read Goethe’s Faust in 1827 and attended a performance of Shakespeare’s
Hamlet. He fell in love with Harriett Smithson, an English actress who played Ophelia, and eventually
married her.2
See below for historical commentary on each piece provided by the Barenreiter edition of 14 Choral
Works with Keyboard.3
Part-Songs:
Part-songs of this era, mainly composed for amateur male singers of choral societies, range from
short and simple pieces to lengthy, virtuosic works. Many of Berlioz’s works are in strophic
form, feature soloists, and include challenging accompaniment. Some include a significant
amount of French.
Critical Thinking Questions:
How is Berlioz’s love of literature and drama conveyed in the piece we are performing? Give
specific examples, looking at the piano accompaniment, dynamics, tempo markings, melodic
contour, etc. How can we as an ensemble convey the drama found in the text?
1
Rayl, D. (2014, April 15). Berlioz and his Predecessors. Classical/Romantic Choral Literature. Lecture conducted
from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.
2
Shrock, D. (2009). Choral Repertoire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 409-10
3
Rumbold, Editor I. (1996).14 Choral Works with Keyboard. Kassel: Bärenreiter.
Performance Practice:
Romantic era composers created drama with wide, contrasting dynamic ranges and various symbols for
articulation. More and more words were used to describe tempo. Be certain to use any dynamic contrasts
in a dramatic way.
Le Ballet des ombres: Ronde nocturne (A Dance of Ghosts: A
Midnight Revel)
SATBB, Piano
Available on IMSLP: http://imslp.org/wiki/La_ballet_des_ombres,_H_37_(Berlioz,_Hector)
Librettist: Albert-Marie Du Boys, imitating Johann Gottfried Herder’s “Der Schattentaz
Key: C min
Date of Composition: 1829
Voicing:
Soprano: C4-G5
Alto: C4-G5 (Marked as Tenor I in IMSLP, but it is in complete unison with sopranos)
Tenor: Mainly A3-G5, but descends as low as D3 in the last phrase.
Baritone: A2-A3
Bass: G2-A3
Form: Strophic
History: Berlioz wrote a letter to Du Boys thanking him for such an original text. After composing the
piece, historians believe he decided to withdraw it from publication and ordered all copies to be
destroyed. It was likely never sold or performed in his lifetime.
Comments: Unison women, three part men. Tenor divisi can be helped by Alto 2’s, except in the final
phrase of the piece. Lots of fun. Website with individual parts: http://www.eolides.com/spip.php?article87
What to teach: Dynamic inflections (significant amounts of crescendo/decrescendo) , text expression
through story-telling, singing sound effects (Men makes “ghost noises,” women sing eerie “ah’s”)
Text/Translation:
Formez vos rangs, entrez en danse
L’ombre descend, le jour s’enfuit.
Ombres, votre règne commence
Dans la sombre horreur de la nuit.
Lorsque le souffle des orages
Agite les vertes forêts,
Il vient aussi dans nos bocages
Faire frémir les noirs cyprès.
Formez vos rangs, entrez en danse,
Ombres, prenez-vous par la main,
Troublez cet auguste silence
Qui règne sur le genre humain!
Pour les rangs point de jalousie,
Ombres de bergers et de rois!
Oubliez que l’orgueil, l’envie
Vous divisèrent autrefois!
L’un n’éprouva que des traverses;
Dans le bonheur l’autre vécut.
Tous ont pris des routes diverses
Pour venir tous au même but.
Ombres, oubliez de la terre
Et les plaisirs et les travaux!
Formez une danse légère
Qui courbe à peine les pavots!
Formez vos rang, entrez en danse!
Mais la lune se lève et luit.
Gagnons l’Élysée en silence,
Et rendons le calme à la nuit!
Mortels, lorsque dans les nuits sombres
Notre voix vous réveillera,
Songez bien qu’à la voix des ombres,
Un jour, la vôtre s’unira!
English:
Form your ranks, begin the dance
The shadow falls on the day fled.
Shadows, your reign begins
In the dark horror of the night.
When winds of storms
Shake the green forests,
It also comes in our groves
Eerie black cypresses.
Form your ranks, begin the dance,
Shadows, take you by the hand,
Disturb this august Silence
Who rules the human race!
For jealousy points ranks,
Shadows of shepherds and kings!
Remember, pride, envy
You divided once!
One not felt that the sleepers;
In the other lived happiness.
All took different roads
To come all the same goal.
Shadows, forget the earth
And the pleasures and work!
Form a light dance
Who curve barely poppies!
Train your rank, dance!
But the moon rises and shines.
Win the Elysee in silence,
And let there be peace at night!
Fatal when in dark nights
Our voice will wake you up,
Consider that at the voice of shadows,
One day, yours will unite!
Chant Guerrier
TTBB, Piano
Librettist: Thomas Gounet
Key: C Major
Date of Composition: 1829
Voicing:
Tenor soloist: E flat 3 to G flat 4.
T: D3-A4
B1: A2-F4
B2: G2-D4
Form: Rondo form: tenor soloist sings the verses while choir sings the refrain
History: Text of Thomas Gounet draws on two poems: “Forget not the field” and “War Song” from
Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies. Chant Guerrier is one of nine settings by Berlioz of Neuf mélodies:
French translations of Thomas Moore poetry. Berlioz expressed in a letter that Moore’s “melodies draw
tears from me from time to time.”
Comments: Feature your best tenor or invite a guest tenor soloist. The tenor sings the majority of the
piece. The choir has 12 measures of text that is repeated three times throughout the piece, so learning the
French shouldn’t be too problematic. In two instances, the basses split into three parts, but the third note
is double an octave above by the tenors and can be omitted if needed.
Available on IMSLP: http://imslp.org/wiki/Irlande,_Op.2,_H_38_(Berlioz,_Hector) Score is slightly
difficult to read.
What to teach: dynamics, sotto voce, rondo form
N'oublions pas ces champs dont la poussière
Est teinte encor du sang de nos guerriers!
Nous leur devons des pleurs, une prière.
La Liberté rayonne á nos foyers.
Ils sont tombés, mais de la mort des braves,
En nous léguant cet heureux avenir
Qui nivela le maître et les esclaves:
Monde nouveau qui ne doit pas finir!
Pourquoi faut-il qu'au milieu des batailles
Vienne mourir un injuste pouvoir,
Et que le deuil, les tristes funérailles
Des affranchis soient le premier devoir?
Heureux le peuple, á ses serments fidèle,
Qui sans combats vit consacrer ses droits!
La Liberté jamais ne fut si belle
Qu'en descendant du marchepied des Rois.
English:
Do not forget these fields whose dust
Is stained with the blood of our warriors!
We owe them crying, a prayer.
Liberty radiates our homes.
They fell, but the death of the brave,
Bequeathing us this happy future
Which leveled the master and slaves:
A new world that should not end!
Why is it that in the midst of battle
Vienna succumbs to unjust power,
And mourning the sad funeral
Are freed from the first duty?
Blessed is the person, from his faithful oaths
Who lives without fighting, devoted to his rights!
Freedom never was so beautiful
By descending from the steps of Kings.
Prière du Matin- chœur d’enfants
Two Voices, Piano
Librettist: Alphonse de Lamartine
Key: G Major
Date of Publication: ca. 1846
Voicing:
S1: D4- F5
S2: A3-D5
Form: Strophic
History: Published in a November 1846 magazine, later added to a collection of works for one or two
voices with chorus entitled Feuillets d’album.
Comments: Quite charming, accessible to middle and elementary levels. Three verses of French text
could be challenging. The text alludes to some sort of diety and could be considered a sacred piece.
What to teach: Strophic form, making each verse interesting and different based on text.
Available on IMSLP: http://imslp.org/wiki/Prière_du_matin,_H_112_(Berlioz,_Hector)
Ô père qu'adore mon père!
Toi qu'on ne nomme qu'à genoux!
Toi, dont le nom terrible et doux
Fait courber le front de ma mère!
On dit que ce brillant soleil
N'est qu'un jouet de ta puissance;
Que sous tes pieds il se balance
Comme une lampe de vermeil.
On dit que c'est toi qui naître
Les petits oiseaux dans les champs
Et qui donne aux petits enfants
une âme aussi pour te connaître!
On dit que c'est toi qui produis
Les fleurs dont le jardin se pare,
Et que, sans toi, toujours avare,
Le verger n'aurait point de fruits.
Mets dans mon âme la justice,
Sur mes lèvres la vérité,
Qu'avec crainte et docilité
Ta parole en mon coeur mûrisse!
Et que ma voix s'élève à toi
Comme cette douce fumée
Que balance l'urne embaumée
Dans la main d'enfants comme moi!
English:
O father who adores my father!
You who have called them to their knees!
You, whose terrible and sweet name
Made the front of my mother bow down!
It is said that this brilliant sun
Is a toy of your power;
That under your feet he swings
As a gilt lamp.
They say that it is you who spring up
The little birds in the fields
And give little children
such a soul to know you!
They say that it is you who produce
The flowers which adorned the garden,
And that without you, always avaricious,
The orchard fruits would point.
Put in my soul justice,
My lips the truth
With fear and docility
Your word in my heart matures!
And my voice came to you
As this sweet smoke
That balance the balmy urn
In the hands of children like me!
L’apothéose
Mezzo Solo, SSTTBB, Piano
Librettist: Antoine François-Marie
Key: E Flat
Date of Composition: 1848
Voicing:
Mezzo or Tenor solo: E flat 4-G5
S1: D4-G5
S2: D4 to F5
T1: F3-G4
T2: D3-F4
B1: B flat 2- E flat 4
B2: G2- E Flat 4
History: L’apothéose is the final moment of the Symphonie funèbre et triomphale. The symphony was
composed in 1840 for the inauguration of the Bastille column in a celebration commemorating the tenth
anniversary of the July Revolution. When Berlioz rewrote this moment for chorus, he changed the key
from B flat to E flat major and shortened the length of the piece, including the introduction. Additional
texts are included in the libretto, likely written by Berlioz himself.
Comments: Lengthy but triumphant patriotic piece. Could be a great closer. Repeating sections for choir
balanced against many soloist passages. Piano supports the voices, often doubling the parts. Challenges
include significant portions for tenor, bass, and mezzo solo.
What to teach: Compare with symphony version, singing in the triumphant style found in the symphony,
Youtube version (no voices): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQjI6Fch6S8
Available on IMSLP: http://imslp.org/wiki/
Grande_symphonie_funèbre_et_triomphale,_H_80_(Berlioz,_Hector)
Gloire et triomphe à ces héros !
Ils sont tombés aux champs de la patrie!
Gloire et respect à leurs tombeaux !
Venez, élus de l'autre vie !
Changez, nobles guerriers,
Tous vos lauriers
Pour des palmes immortelles!
Suivez les Séraphins,
Soldats divins
Dans les plaines éternelles !
À leurs chœurs infinis
Soyez unis !
Anges radieux,
Harmonieux,
Brûlants comme eux,
Entrez, sublimes
Victimes !
Gloire et triomphe…
Que leurs drapeaux sanglants
Au front des cieux resplendissent !
Qu'en un splendide accord
Les trompes d'or retentissent !
Ils ont payé de tout leur sang
La liberté, l'honneur de la patrie.
Qu'ils soient admis au premier rang
Des demi-dieux; l'œuvre est finie !
Que les drapeaux sanglants
De ces vaillants
Au front des cieux resplendissent !
Qu'en un splendide accord
Les trompes d'or
Devant leurs pas retentissent !
Entrez morts immortels;
De mille autels
Pour vous lumineux
Jusques aux cieux
Montent des vœux,
Chantons, phalanges
D'archanges !
Gloire et triomphe…
Glory and triumph heroes!
They fell to the fields of the country!
Glory and respect to their graves!
Come, elected another life!
Change, noble warriors,
All your laurels
For immortal palms!
Follow the Seraphim,
divine soldiers
In the eternal plains!
In their infinite choirs
Be One!
Radiant angels,
harmonious,
Hot like them
Enter sublime
Victims!
Glory and triumph ...
Their bloody flags
At the front of the heavens shine!
What a splendid agreement
The gold horns sound!
They paid for all their blood
Freedom and honor of the country.
They are admitted to the forefront
Demigods; the work is over!
What the bloody flags
These valiant
At the front of the heavens shine!
What a splendid agreement
The gold tubes
Before their not sound!
Enter immortal dead;
Thousand altars
To light
Even to the heavens
Rise of vows,
Sing, phalanges
On the archangels!
Glory and triumph ...