The Spatiality Of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique

This dissertation focuses on the spatiality of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Since the “spatial turn” of the last century, the concept of “space” has become increasingly significant in the studies of social sciences, philosophy, sociology, literature, and fine arts, with a growing emphasis on its role. Yet musicology has yet to develop equivalent methods to explore the spatiality of musical works and the ways in which spatiality is determined by the interrelationships between historical context and works. The existing spatiality research in various fields argues for the relationship between human consciousness, social practices and social space. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s influential research into spatiality, I have separated space into three categories: mental, social, and physical space. The reason for choosing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique is that, as a musical work, it not only possesses literary narrativity but also hints at the composer’s personal experiences and the social spaces he inhabited through its programme and musical sounds. The study of this work will make possible the development of methodologies for researching the spatiality of musical compositions from multiple perspectives.

This dissertation is divided into five chapters to examine each of the five movements of the Symphonie Fantastique. In the analysis of each movement, I initially link the spaces depicted in the programme with the composer’s own spatial context and creative process, examining how these spaces influenced the composer’s life and ignited the desire to compose. Meanwhile, the space in which Berlioz was situated influenced and shaped his understanding of space and was manifested in his works in a dynamic form. Thus, this research explores the attributes of the social space in which Berlioz once lived and practised, including the locations he mentions in his Memoirs, such as the rural locations of his childhood, on the one hand, and urban Paris – his home for most of his adult life – on the other. In each case, the spatiality of the geographic setting can be seen to have shaped his approach to Symphonie Fantastique. These spatial qualities in the music are then approached in each chapter through a two-fold approach to analysis: First, I study the spatial sense described by the melody, structure, texture and instruments. Second, I explore how Berlioz depicts or suggests different spatial senses through the combination of programme and musical sound. In addition, I also examine the spatiality of the performance (from both the performers’ and listeners’ perspectives) of Symphonie Fantastique in light of Berlioz’s writing on orchestration. By revealing how Berlioz integrated personal experiences and social spaces into his compositions, this study expands the theoretical framework of musical spatiality research, offering new perspectives for a more multidimensional understanding of music. This demonstrates that Symphonie Fantastique is not only a musical masterpiece but also an important case study in exploring how composers express and reflect the social and cultural environment of their era through music.