and certainty of
orchestral effect, it was and remains a work[234] of genius.

[Footnote 234: For further comments on this Symphony see Mr. Mason's
essay in the _Romantic Composers_, an essay which, while thoughtful,
strikes the writer as somewhat biased.]

THE CARNAVAL ROMAIN OVERTURE

(SEE SUPPLEMENT NO. 57)

This work is one of Berlioz's most brilliant pieces, with an
orchestral life and color all its own. The material is taken from his
opera _Benvenuto Cellini_;[235] the checquered career of this artist
having made an irresistible appeal to Berlioz's love of the unusual
and the spectacular. The body of the work is based on the Italian
national dance, the Saltarello; and with this rhythm as a steadying
background Berlioz achieves a continuity sometimes lacking in his
work. The mere thought of the sights, sounds and colors of that
important event in the life of Rome would be enough to inflame his
susceptible imagination, and so here we have Berlioz at his very best.
The overture begins, allegro assai con fuoco, with a partial
announcement of the saltarello theme by the violins and violas, freely
imitated by the wood-wind instruments, _e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 235: For an entertaining account of the subject matter of
the opera see Chapter VII of Boschot's _Un Romantique sous Louis
Philippe_.]

After a sudden prolonged silence and some crescendo trills the first
periodic melody is introduced, sung by the English horn--the tune
taken from an aria of Benvenuto in the first act. The melody is soon
repeated in the dominant key by the violas and then, treated
canonically, by the 'cellos and violins. The canon really tells and
shows that Berlioz, as is often alleged, was not _altogether_ lacking
in polyphonic skill. The rhythm is now gradually quickened and leads
to the main body of the work, in 6/8 time, based on the Italian
folk-dance--the Saltarello which, as its name implies, is of a
"skipping" nature. The music is freely developed from the two
following themes; there is no second theme proper, _e.g._

[Music: (_a_)]

[Music: (_b_)]

Toward the close there is a return to the introductory melody which is
treated contrapuntally by the bassoons and other wind-instruments. The
saltarello resumes its sway and is worked up to a fiery ending;
especially brilliant are the closing chords scored for full brass with
trills on the cornets.

Two of Berlioz's most poetically conceived descriptive pieces are the
_Men