Berlioz's Avant-propos and Observations
(transl. by D. Kern and Elizabeth R. Holoman, first published in NBE vol. 10).
 

Foreword

There can doubtless be no mistake about the genre of this work. Even though voices are often used, it is neither a concert opera nor a cantata, but a choral symphony.

If there is singing almost from the beginning, it is to prepare the listener's mind for the dramatic scenes whose feelings and passions are to be expressed by the orchestra. It is also to introduce the choral masses gradually into the musical development, when their too sudden appearance might have damaged the composition's unity. Thus the prologue, where (as in Shakespeare's drama) the chorus presents the action, is sung by only fourteen voices. Later the chorus of Capulet men is heard offstage alone; then in the funeral ceremony, the Capulets both men and women. At the beginning of the finale both choruses of Capulets and Montagues appear with Friar Laurence, and at the end, all three choruses together.

This last scene of the reconciliation between the two families is the only one that falls into the domain of opera or oratorio. It has never been performed on any stage since Shakespeare's time, but it is too beautiful, too musical, and it concludes a work of this nature too well for the composer to dream of treating it differently.

If, in the famous garden and cemetery scenes, the dialogue of the two lovers, Juliet's asides, and Romeo's passionate outbursts are not sung, if the duets of love and despair are given to the orchestra, the reasons for this are numerous and easy to understand. First, and this reason alone would be sufficient, it is a symphony and not an opera. Second, since duets of this nature have been treated vocally a thousand times by the greatest masters, it was wise as well as unusual to attempt another means of expression. It is also because the very sublimity of this love made its depiction so dangerous for the musician that he had to give his imagination a latitude that the positive sense of the sung words would not have given him, resorting instead to instrumental language, which is richer, more varied, less precise, and by its very indefiniteness incomparably more powerful in such a case.

                                                                                                    Hector BERLIOZ

Observations
 

The best way to arrange the chorus and orchestra for the performance of this symphony is as follows:

In a large opera theatre, such as those in Paris, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, London, and St Petersburg, a platform should be built over the area generally occupied by the orchestra; this floor will be one and a half feet lower than the apron. The footlights will be covered over. On the stage there should be placed a large shell reaching approximately to the far backstage; at the rear of this set will be four risers, each two and a half feet high. In front of these risers the apron will remain free to a depth of approximately ten meters. Having arranged for 270 performers, one should place the chorus of Capulets on the right of the aforesaid platform built over the orchestra pit a little lower than the stage, and the chorus of Montagues on the left. The sopranos, being in front, will sing sitting down; the tenors and basses, on the other hand, will sing standing; in this way their voices will not be covered by the women in the front rows.

The singers in the Prologue chorus, who can be as many as twenty instead of fourteen, will stand on the apron (along the footlights), and thus behind the choruses of Capulets and Montagues but higher than them. The three soloists--contralto, tenor, and Friar Laurence--will be in the center in front of the Prologue chorus.

The conductor will be near the Prologue chorus and the soloists. The whole body of soloists and choruses will be facing the audience with their backs to the conductor, and will thus be unable to see the beat; but a chorus-master placed at the front of the platform over the orchestra pit, in front of the sopranos and with his back to the audience, will follow the conductor's movements and will transmit them to the choruses with the greatest precision.

The orchestra will be arranged in the usual way: the first violins to stage right, profiles to the audience; the

second violins to stage left, in the same position, facing the first violins. Between them are a stand of double basses and one of cellos, along with two harps. All the rest of the orchestra is on risers in the usual arrangement, care being taken to put the violas near the front. The eight extra harps for the second movement (the Fête chez Capulet) will have space in front of the two violin sections, since the Prologue chorus has to leave the stage when the Prologue is over. After the Fête, the eight harps must be removed, and their place will again be free for the return of the small chorus and soloists, which will not take place until after the scherzo and before Juliet's funeral procession.

I have explained the way to perform the double men s chorus backstage in a note in the score; it is not necessary for the chorusmaster directing them to see the conductor's beat. The latter should follow the chorus, which he will easily be able to hear.

In the instrumental setting of La Reine Mab, it is better not to have all the strings play, if they are a large group; it is only necessary to use twelve or fourteen violins on each side, ten violas, ten cellos, and eight double basses at the most. At this point it is also a good idea to place the two cymbal players playing the parts for antique cymbals in B6 and F near the conductor and not on the furthest riser onstage as usual; otherwise they will always be behind because of their distance and the rapid pace of the music. Finally, the chorus members, Capulets and Montagues, should not be seen by the audience until after the instrumental scherzo, during the interval separating it from the Cérémonie funèbre.

                                                                                                    Hector BERLIOZ