Coleridge-Taylor, Tchaikovsky & Berlioz: May 30–June 1, 2025
- cbeeson69
- May 30
- 12 min read
Updated: May 30
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Ballade in A minor, Op. 33
DIVE IN!
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 – 1912) was a British violinist, composer, and conductor who during his lifetime and career enjoyed substantial success and a very highly regarded reputation for his artistic genius. On well established British composer Edward Elgar’s recommendation, he was commissioned to create the Ballade in A minor, Opus 33 by the Three Choirs Festival in 1898.
Coleridge-Taylor is best known for three major cantatas (a type of music for chorus and orchestra) based on the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. His fame was so well established that he was invited to tour internationally. While having his works performed and premiered in the United States he was celebrated as “the African Mahler”. That’s right. Spoiler alert. Coleridge-Taylor was of African descent, and apparently classical music gatekeepers couldn’t just let him stand on his own merits - similarly to Classical era phenom Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges often being referred to as the Black Mozart. Instead of, you know, HIS OWN NAME FOR EXAMPLE.
Coleridge-Taylor’s heritage story is one of grit and determination and definitely resilience. His mother was a white Englishwoman from London whose family were working class. His father was descended from ancestors who had first been kidnapped from Africa and taken to to be enslaved in the British Colonies of what is now the United States, then were part of thousands that the British resettled in Nova Scotia at the end of the Revolutionary War, and finally in the 1790s were part of around twelve hundred who chose to relocate to Sierra Leone.
Coleridge-Taylor’s mother Alice Martin met his father Daniel Taylor in London while he was there studying medicine. He returned to Sierra Leone not knowing she was pregnant. Alice raised Samuel Coleridge-Taylor first in central London living with her farrier and music enthusiast father, and later in south London living with her railway worker husband right next to the rail yard. Growing up near the noise and hustle bustle of trains isn’t the kind of thing you might expect would produce a world class composer. Luckily Alice Martin’s father, while teaching young Samuel the violin, noticed his talent and paid for further music training. By the age of 15 he was enrolled at the Royal College of Music where he switched his focus to composition.
Composers were not paid well, and even though he had teaching positions and invitations to tour internationally promoting his works, Coleridge-Taylor struggled financially. Like that other wunderkind, Wolfie Mozart, Coleridge-Taylor lived a short life - dying at 37 from pneumonia which was exacerbated by the stresses caused from income insecurity. In a frustrating turn of events, he was so celebrated in life that after his death King George V granted an annual stipend to help support his family. Surely that assistance could’ve happened while he was alive, and possibly he would’ve gone on to continue composing for decades, leaving the world with substantially more than the 86 compositions he created in his short career.
Ballade in A minor, Op. 33 is an energetic melody driven 10 minute work for full orchestra composed in 1898. Conceived specifically to be performed at the prestigious Three Choirs Festival, it is interesting that Coleridge-Taylor chose to structure the piece in a way that reflects a commonly used song form of repeated verses. Coleridge-Taylor was just 23 years old when he composed the Ballade and conducted the premiere at the festival.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Violin concerto
DIVE IN!
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. He wrote some of the most popular music in the long form acoustic music repertoire. Despite his international acclaim, Tchaikovsky endured many points of personal crises and depression. He was deeply shaken by the untimely deaths of his mother and later of a close friend and colleague, left financially bereft by the collapse of his 13 year association with a commissioning patron, and increasingly anxious about being unable to be openly queer in a deeply intolerant society. There is something universal in the emotional heft of Tchaikovsky’s expressions which resonates with anyone who struggles with their human flaws, whether perceived or real.
About the Concerto:
Tchaikovsky composed his only Violin Concerto in 1878 when he was just 38 years old with the assistance of his romantic partner, the violinist and composer Josef Kotek. Kotek assisted Tchaikovsky so much with technical decisions about the solo violin part that he wanted to dedicate the concerto to him, writing ”How lovingly Kotek busies himself with my concerto! It goes without saying that I would have been able to do nothing without him. He plays it marvelously!” Ultimately he decided against this as he was still very much closeted to the public about his queer identity and was sure this dedication would cause gossip. Instead he dedicated it to famed violinist and instructor Leopold Auer who declined to perform it until technical revisions could be made that Auer felt would better suit the violin. Tchaikovsky changed the dedication to violinist Adolph Brodsky who finally premiered it in 1881.
The premiere was met with mixed reviews, including this one cruel review from critic Eduard Hanslick who called it "long and pretentious" and said that it "brought us face to face with the revolting thought that music can exist which stinks to the ear”. He went on to call the last movement "odorously Russian” and also wrote "the violin was not played but beaten black and blue".
Despite Leopold Auer’s suggestion to make revisions and Eduard Hanslick’s scathing review, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto has become a mainstay in the solo violin repertoire and is performed frequently on concert stages around the world. My opinion, which is clearly not shared by Hanslick, is that it’s an absolute joy to listen to from start to finish. While chock full of technical flare, it is also brimming with the lush melodies for which Tchaikovsky is so well known. Leopold Auer later very astutely wrote “The concerto has made its way in the world, and after all, that is the most important thing. It is impossible to please everybody.”
Violin Concerto is written in a typical 3 movement structure of fast, slow, fast and features the colors of the full orchestra in some really beautiful ways.
A typical performance lasts about 35 minutes.
Watch & Listen!
Grab some friends and...
Nerd out! - on Technical brilliance:
1. It is the nature of the concerto to be a vehicle for the soloist to show off their great skill. In this concerto, the violinist is given plenty of opportunities to do just that. The excerpts below comprise a powerhouse section of virtuosity from the first movement. By the end of the sequence one is left with the feeling that the soloist is invincible! Familiarize yourself with some of these difficult string techniques by listening for three different areas of technical brilliance between about the 5:30 and 6:30 mark in the first movement. Try to listen to them for comparison to each other. You will hear a quick triplet passage repeated with a bouncing bow, a passage of double stops (two notes played simultaneously) and arpeggios (skipping steps on a musical staircase), and a bunch of crazy trills (very fast toggling between two notes) plus arpeggiated chords.
2. Now listen to that entire passage again as it moves smoothly through each of the areas of technical brilliance. Imagine how it might feel to play the solo violin part during this very demanding portion of the concerto. Do you think another instrument, like the trumpet or bassoon, could use these same techniques? Why or why not? One possible reason for wind or brass instruments not being able to play some of this is due to the inclusion of multiple simultaneous notes being played (double stops and chords). How might it sound different on one of those instruments if there were no double stops or chords to worry about?
3. Finally, listen to the whole concerto. Keep track of any virtuosic techniques that the violinist uses throughout the piece and describe any other virtuosic sounds which were not included in the excerpt above. Which of the three movements seem to have more virtuosic passages? Which has the least? Why do you think this might be the case?
Nerd out! - on Melody:
1. Tchaikovsky has produced some of the most memorable melodies of all time. Try to think of some basic parameters or ingredients might make a good melody. What makes a melody ‘singable’? What makes a melody memorable? Are these qualities requirements? Why or why not?
2. Now listen to the main themes of each movement from the concerto. Movement 1 from about 1:15 to 1:30, Movement 2 from about :30 to 1:00, Movement 3 from about 1:20 to 1:35.
How well do you remember the melodies from movements one and two? Is it possible to sing back the melody from movement three? Listen to the excerpts as many times as necessary and examine the melodies in terms of the parameters or ingredient list compiled from the first activity. How do these they fit in each category? Would you characterize Tchaikovsky’s melodies as memorable? Why or why not?
3. Finally, listen to the whole concerto. Track the main themes throughout each movement. Notice how Tchaikovsky chooses to alter them to fit a certain musical moment. How might this help the listener better remember each one? Also listen for the secondary themes present in each movement. Typically they are presented in a slower tempo or sweeter context than the main theme. Are these melodies easy or difficult to locate on an initial hearing? Why or why not? After listening to the entire concerto is it easier to remember the main themes? Which movement(s) ‘stick’ in your memory better?
Hector Berlioz
Symphonie Fantastique
DIVE IN!
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was a French composer, conductor, writer, and notoriously obsessive stalker. Nothing is quite so engaging and wild a tale as the one behind Symphonie Fantastique. The music is also engaging and wild, so it’s a pretty good fit!
highlights:
Hector Berlioz composed Symphonie Fantastique in 1830 when he was just 27 years old and only a handful of years after he seriously dedicated himself to music composition. It was premiered later that same year at the Paris Conservatory.
Symphonie Fantastique is in five sections: Reveries-Passions, A Ball, Scene in the Fields, March to the Scaffold, and Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath. In the span of about 50 minutes it tells the story of a young musician who meets a woman and instantly falls in love, then becomes obsessive and paranoid she might not care for him so he decides to poison himself with opium which causes a terrifying hallucination of her murder, and his own execution and funeral. Just the kind of wholesome programming you expect from your afternoon at the symphony. 😂😂😂
About the piece, American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein is quoted as saying “Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral.”
Berlioz called for a very large orchestra. 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes and English horn, 2 clarinets and E-flat clarinet, 4 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 ophicleides, 4 timpani, 4 harps, percussion, and a large string section of “at least” 30 violins, 10 violas, 11 cellos and 9 basses. Note: in most modern performances tubas are substituted for ophicleide, often only 2 harps are used, and the string instruments can vary in number.
A typical performance lasts about 50 minutes.
spoiler alert!
The story is actually based on Berlioz and his obsession with a famous Irish actress, Harriet Smithson.
After a ton of letters to her went unanswered he composed Symphonie Fantastique. She was invited to the premiere which was specifically scheduled to coincide with her return to Paris, but she didn’t show up. In the meantime, he fell in love with another woman and was all set to marry her when she called off the engagement in order to marry an older richer man. Here’s where it gets really juicy. Berlioz was outraged, and concocted an elaborate plan to kill them both, together with her mother. He actually went as far as to purchase poisons, pistols and an elaborate disguise. But halfway through the train ride to get there he changed his mind and returned home.
Guess what? He turned his attention back to Harriet Smithson and wrote a sequel to Symphonie Fantastique about her. This apparently finally caught her attention. Just two years after the original bout of stalking they met, and married not long after. Apparently the bloody demonic ending of Symphony Fantastique didn’t bother her, but SURPRISE their marriage didn’t last. Go figure.
Watch & Listen:
Explore the music:
Here is a listening map that can guide you through the piece. Read it in advance or while you’re listening!
Reveries – Passions
This music sets the stage for the story with music of thoughtfulness and of the Romantic ideal of tortured love feelings. Berlioz uses a special theme in each movement called an idee fixe. We hear the idee fixe melody in its simplest state in this movement, although it takes on both the characteristic of beloved, and anxieties about the beloved.
A Ball
The music in this second movement is a waltz. It’s not all party all the time, though. We have an introduction that builds anticipation before the harps take us into the main theme which is a waltz version of the idee fixe that was introduced earlier. This whole movement is a paranoid fantasy in which he attends a fancy ball with his beloved, and later discovers her dancing with another man. It’s like a 19th century version of ‘Tennessee Waltz’, but with a LOT more angst than Patti Page gives us.
Scene in the Fields
Some of the most beautiful and certainly bucolic sounding music is in this third movement. In the story, our protagonist hears a pastoral duet between shepherds which gives him an opportunity to calm his anxieties. Unfortunately this also gives him room to build them up again and we finish the movement with sounds of a building storm. The shepherds’ music is portrayed by a distant sounding off stage oboe calling to the on stage English horn. The rumbling timpani near the end signifies thunder. In this movement, the idee fixe comes after the initial shepherds’ calls and is presented simply and beautifully in the violins and solo flute.
March to the Scaffold
In this movement we’ve skipped ahead a bit in the storyline to a manic scene of hallucination dreams. Our protagonist believes he has killed his beloved, has been sentenced to death, and is being marched through town to his execution. The music periodically builds into wild outbursts all the while the march continues forward, until right near the end when the idee fixe returns in the solo clarinet like a final word or thought from the convicted protagonist. Immediately following the pathetic last words the music sharply depicts the chop of the guillotine, his head bouncing down, and then the cheering crowds who witnessed it all. Fun times!
Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath
In this movement, the protagonist dreams of himself at a Witches’ Sabbath with all manner of scary ghouls there to attend his funeral. The music begins with an ominous sounding slow introduction featuring various sound effects from instruments in the orchestra. This leads to a furious dance, and then becomes even more manic with the introduction of the Latin mass Dies Irae or Day of Wrath tune.
get nerdy! - Consider & discuss:
"Symphonie Fantastique: Episode de la vie d’un artiste… en cinque parties", or Fantastical Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist… in Five Sections, is one of the most popular pieces of music for full orchestra from the Romantic era. It is a programmatic work, which means the music is intended to tell a story without using words. Berlioz uses a musical technique called leitmotif, or in this specific case, idee fixe. These are each terms for short musical phrases or ideas that are assigned to a particular character, place, action, or feeling in the musical story. Berlioz makes one melody for his idee fixe which he then alters for each of the movements’ different characteristics. He also uses the 13th century Dies Irae melody from the Latin mass to evoke fear and awe. Considering the storyline of Symphonie Fantastique, in what ways do you think Berlioz would want to alter the idee fixe to suit each new situation? Why do you think it might’ve been important for Berlioz to use one unifying melody rather than assigning unique musical expressions for each situation?
Hector Berlioz was best known for his skill at orchestration, which is making choices about which instruments or combination of instruments might be best to achieve a particular sound in the orchestra. The fourth movement of Symphonie Fantastique is a march. Think about what musical elements might be necessary to make music sound like a march. What particular instrument or group of instruments might be necessary to convey the sound and feeling of a march? Does a march need to have a particular tempo or pace, and if so what might it be?
Berlioz’s march music is during a dream sequence featuring a prisoner being marched through a town with a crowd watching. How do you think he might incorporate these story elements into his march music? What instruments do you think he would choose to use and how?