Czech Philharmonic ⬩ Simon Rattle

“Beethoven is dead, and Berlioz alone can revive him.”
– Nicolò Paganini, letter to Hector Berlioz dated 18 Dec. 1838

In 1830, Berlioz completed his Symphonie Fantastique, and he did not intend to write another symphonic work. He kept his word for three years until he got a commission from the virtuoso Nicolo Paganini. Shortly beforehand, the violinist had acquired a viola made by Antonio Stradivari, and he was looking for a composition to play on it.

When searching for a suitable subject, Berlioz considered a work with choir about the last moments of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, but in the end an orchestral composition with viola solo won out. The work also reflected recollections of Berlioz’s earlier, rather unproductive stay in Italy as a winner of the Prix de Rome, a French stipend for gifted artists.

“It occurred to me to write a series of scenes for orchestra with solo viola involved as a more-or-less active character who always retains his own individuality. By placing it among poetic memories formed from my wanderings in the Abruzzi, I wanted to make the viola a kind of melancholy dreamer in the manner of Byron’s Childe-Harold. Thence the title: Harold in Italy.”

Paganini admired Berlioz, but the commissioned composition did not seem virtuosic enough for the presentation of a rare instrument, and he refused to play it. Four years later, however, when he attended the premiere in Paris at a concert conducted by Berlioz, he changed his opinion. He compared the composer to Beethoven and wrote him a bank draft for 20,000 francs, thanks to which Berlioz was able to compose a third symphony.

On the second half of the concert, we will hear Beethoven’s Third Symphony. “Beethoven, scornful and brutal, and yet gifted with deep sensitivity. It seems I would forgive him everything, his scorn and his brutality,” said Berlioz in deep admiration of his colleague’s work. The link between the two composers in the middle of the programme is Chain III by Witold Lutosławski.