(Harold in Italy, symphony with viola obbligato), as the manuscript describes it, is a four-movement orchestral work by Hector Berlioz, his Opus 16, H. 68, written in 1834. Throughout, the unusual viola part represents the titular protagonist, without casting the form as a concerto. The movements have these titles, alluding to a programme:

Creation The Italian composer Niccolò Paganini encouraged Hector Berlioz to write . The two first met after a concert of Berlioz's works conducted by Narcisse Girard on 22 December 1833, three years after the premiere of Berlioz's . According to Berlioz' , Paganini had acquired a "superb viola", a Stradivarius (the so-called "Paganini-Mendelssohn") — "But I have no suitable music. Would you like to write a solo for viola? You are the only one I can trust for this task." ("")

Berlioz began "by writing a solo for viola, but one which involved the orchestra in such a way as not to reduce the effectiveness of the orchestral contribution". When Paganini saw the sketch of the allegro movement, with all the rests in the viola part, he told Berlioz it would not do, and that he expected to be playing continuously. They then parted, with Paganini disappointed. A few years later, Paganini was in Paris again and attended a concert including the Symphonie Fantastique and Harold en Italie conducted by Berlioz. After the concert Paganini went to see Berlioz and told him he had never been as touched as by Harold, then kneeled and kissed Berlioz's hand.

Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" inspired the mood of Harold, Berlioz wrote.

That he had recycled some of the material from his discarded concert overture Rob Roy went unmentioned. Despite Berlioz' mention of Byron, music critics, including Donald Tovey, have pointed out that Harold in Italy owes nearly nothing to the poem: "no definite elements of Byron's poem have penetrated the impregnable fortress of Berlioz's encyclopaedic inattention,...there is no trace in Berlioz's music of any of the famous passages of Childe Harold."

Form

From a formal point of view, the work can be regarded as a symphony. For example, it has four movements, the third of which is a Beethovenesque scherzo. The solo parts never have a virtuoso style comparable to other solo concertos. The viola has its most important role in the first movement, where it introduces the Harold theme as well as the two secondary themes.

In addition to the solo viola, the work calls for 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (1st doubling cor anglais in movement III), 2 clarinets in C (movements I, III, and IV) and A (movement II), 4 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, 2 tambourines, harp and strings.

Throughout the work the viola represents Harold. The first movement, Harold aux montagnes, traces scenes his melancholic character encounters in the mountains. The manner in which the viola theme hesitantly repeats its opening phrase — gaining confidence, like an idea forming, before the long melody spills out in its entirety — was satirized in a musical paper after the premiere: "Ha! ha! ha! – haro! haro! Harold!" it began, a cheeky touch Berlioz recalled years later in his Mémoires. In the second movement, Marche des pèlerins, Harold accompanies a group of pilgrims; in the third, Sérénade, his mistress is enchanted by music. The last movement, Orgie de brigands, finds the hero spiritually drained and in wild company, perhaps in a tavern. (Jacques Barzun reminds us: "The brigand of Berlioz's time is the avenger of social injustice, the rebel against the city, who resorts to nature for healing the wounds of social man."In Berlioz and His Century, noted by Freed.)

History Harold in Italy was premiered on 23 November 1834 with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Chrétien Urhan playing the viola part, Narcisse Girard conducting. Even though the second movement "March of the Pilgrims" received an encore, this performance contributed to Berlioz's decision to conduct his own music in the future.

Paganini did not hear the work he had commissioned until 16 December 1838; then he was so overwhelmed by it that, following the performance, he dragged Berlioz onto the stage and there knelt and kissed his hand before a wildly cheering audience and applauding musicians. A few days later he sent Berlioz a letter of congratulations, enclosing a bank draft for 20,000 francs.

Franz Liszt prepared a piano transcription (with viola accompaniment) of the work in 1836 (S.472).

Notable performances 1842, 1 February, Paris, Salle Vivienne – Jean-Delphin Alard (soloist); Berlioz (conductor) 1842, 26 September, Brussels – Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (soloist); Berlioz (conductor) 1847, 5 May, Saint Petersburg premiere – Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (soloist); Berlioz (conductor) 1848, 7 February, London premiere – Henry Hill (1808–1846) (soloist); Berlioz (conductor); Drury Lane Theatre 1853, 22 November, Bremen – Joseph Joachim (soloist); Berlioz (conductor) 1853, 1 December, Leipzig – Ferdinand David (soloist); Berlioz (conductor); Gewandhaus Orchestra 1868, 11 January, Moscow – Ferdinand Laub (soloist); Berlioz (conductor); Moscow Conservatory Orchestra 1868, 8 February, Saint Petersburg – Hieronymus Weickmann (soloist); Berlioz (conductor); final performance under the direction of the composer 1937, 4 February – Lionel Tertis (soloist, his last public performance); Ernest Ansermet; BBC Symphony Orchestra

The first studio recording was made by RCA in 1944 with William Primrose and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky.

The piece was used in Terrence Malick's 2013 film To The Wonder, starring Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko. The film has several visual references to the composition's content and history.

Recordings Harold en Italie has been frequently recorded.

William Primrose, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, 2 January 1939 live broadcastRemastered and released as Music and Arts Programs of America: CD-4614, 2003. William Primrose, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky, 1944 Gunther Breitenbach, Vienna Symphony, Rudolf Moralt, 1950 William Primrose, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Beecham, 1952 Carlton Cooley, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, 1953 Frederick Riddle, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hermann Scherchen, 1953 Joseph de Pasquale, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, 1954 Ladislav Cerny, Czech Philharmonic, Vaclav Jiracek, 1955 Frederick Riddle, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, 1956 Heinz Kirchner, Berlin Philharmonic, Igor Markevitch, 1957 William Primrose, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, 1958 William Lincer, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, 1961 Yehudi Menuhin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Colin Davis, 1963 Klaas Boon, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, 1963 Georg Schmid, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelík, 1964 Rudolf Barshai, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, David Oistrakh, 1964 Walter Trampler, London Symphony Orchestra, Georges Prêtre, 1969 Joseph de Pasquale, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, 1970 Claude Ducrocq, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Alain Lombard, 1974 Nobuko Imai, London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis, 1975 Daniel Benyamini, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta, 1975 Joseph Suk, Czech Philharmonic, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, 1976 Donald McInnes, Orchestre National de France, Leonard Bernstein, 1977 Pinchas Zukerman, Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim, 1977 Robert Vernon, Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, 1977 Yuri Bashmet, USSR State Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev, 1981 Lubomir Jaly, Czech Philharmonic, František Jílek, 1981 Milan Telecky, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Onderj Lenard, 1982 Wolfram Christ, Berlin Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel, 1985 Douglas McNabney, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Simon Streatfield, 1985 Pinchas Zukerman, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit, 1988 Yuri Bashmet, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Eliahu Inbal, 1989 Gérard Caussé, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel Plasson, 1991 Gérard Caussé, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner, 1994 Laurent Verney, Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille, Myung-whun Chung, 1996 Bruno Pasquier, Orchestre Philharmonique Regional Montpellier, Cyril Diederich, 1996 Bruno Giuranna, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Maxim Shostakovich, 1996 Rivka Golani, San Diego Symphony, Yoav Talmi, 1996 Gérard Caussé, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Jean Fournet, 1997 Mikhail Tolpygo, USSR State Academic Symphony Orchestra, David Oistrakh, 1997 Csaba Erdélyi, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Marc Taddei, 2001 Tabea Zimmermann, London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis, 2003 Naoko Shimizu, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Kazuhiro Koizumi, 2007 Jean-Eric Soucy, Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sylvain Cambreling, 2009 Antoine Tamestit, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski, 2011 Stefano Passaggio, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Milan Horvat, 2011 David Aaron Carpenter, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy, 2011 James Ehnes, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, 2014 Antoine Tamestit, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Eliahu Inbal, 2018 Timothy Ridout, Orchestre Philarmonique de Strasbourg, conducted by John Nelson CD Erato 2022

References

Bibliography Berlioz, Hector. Memoirs. ch. 45 Berlioz website: Harold in Italy

program notes, 2005 by Richard Freed D. Kern Holoman, program notes, 1996

Further reading Sir Donald Tovey, essay on Harold in Italy in Essays in Musical Analysis, vol. IV

External links

BBC Discovering Music (page down for link to .ram file discussing the work) Viola-in-Music.com – Harold in Italy