The hero (Berlioz himself), under the influence of opium, imagines of a passionate love affair which ends with his execution for the murder of his lover.

‘So many musical ideas are seething within me! ... Now that I have broken free of the bonds of orthodoxy, I see huge vistas opening up before me ... There are new things, many new things to be done, I feel it in every fibre of my being, and I shall achieve my aims, believe me, on my life.’  So wrote Hector Berlioz in a letter to his friend, Edmund Rocher, shortly before commencing work on his Symphonie fantastique.

The Symphonie fantastique has a recurring theme, described by the composer as idée fixe (fixed idea), in the form of a single melody which reappears in different forms throughout the symphony.

Berlioz’s passionate love for an Irish actress was the inspiration for the Symphonie fantastique.

The Symphonie fantastique is an example of program music which is music written with the intention of representing a particular theme or narrative.

About the Composer
Often seen as the quintessential Romantic, Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869) was a French composer, conductor and critic. He wrote stage works including the famous Les Troyens and La damnation de Faust; choral and vocal works including La Grande messe des morts, L'Enfance du Christ and Les Nuits d'été. His most famous orchestral work is the Symphonie fantastique