Fall head first into the impassioned romance and wondrous opium-fueled dreams of Hector Berlioz’s legendary Symphonie fantastique. From its whirlwind waltzes to demonic hallucinations, hear why MTT calls this unabashed melodrama an “epic orchestral sonic spectacular!”

Berlioz’ own program note describes the Symphony’s narrative in detail. He introduces “a young musician of morbid disposition and powerful imagination”—a plain surrogate for Berlioz—who “poisons himself with opium in an attack of despairing passion.” In the ensuing opium dream, “the beloved herself appears to him as a melody … an obsessive idea that he keeps hearing wherever he goes.”

-- Copyright © 2019 Aaron Grad

Originally performed April 27, 2019.