Bloomington Symphony Orchestra performs a nontraditional program with images, masks, more

Bloomington Symphony Orchestra's spring program will whirl attendees through Paris in a nontraditional eddy of obsessive, unrequited love and boundary-bashing harmonies. Two programmatic (written to tell a story) symphonies will enlighten audience members on the lives of French composers Lili Boulanger and Hector Berlioz.

"Symphonie fantastique" by Berlioz and "D’un soir triste" by Boulanger will fill the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on May 12; life in old Paris is the theme. To tell the stories, in addition to music, there will be projected images and "listening guides" presented between movements to better tell the story intended by the composers, as well as some scary masks.

The two symphonies help explain Boulanger’s (1893-1918) devastating thoughts about her truncated life, which contrast with Hector Berlioz' (1803-1869) gusto for exploring and his crazy don't-let-go love for actress Harriet Smithson (1800-1854), who was Berlioz's first wife.

Lili Boulanger: first female to earn the Prix de Rome composition prize

Lili Boulanger's sister, Nadia, usually claims the spotlight, although Lili's compositions are stunning. Lili's 1918 "D’un soir triste" (Of a Sad Evening) is dark, it's harmonies jolting that era's listeners. And she finished it months before her death at 24.

Boulanger's family were trained composers or performers. Her father won the highly prestigious Prix de Rome at age 20. The French scholarship offers study in Rome to young creatives. Others to win the Prix de Rome include Hector Berlioz (whose music is in this concert), Gabriel Fauré and Claude Debussy.

Boulanger's father married a Russian princess and he was 79 when Lili was born. He died when both Nadia and Lili were young. At age 2, Lili had shown talent — and perfect pitch — and was receiving musical instruction.

In 1913, Lili was the first woman to earn the Prix de Rome. She was 20, as her father had been, and she was now globally famous — the first female to earn the Prix de Rome composition prize.

Hector Berlioz, both a composer and conductor

Of all the conductors from the 1800s, Berlioz was one of the most esteemed. Even as a student he was exceptional. His Symphonie fantastique is his best-known work.

Symphonie fantastique is an account of Berlioz's obsession with the actress Smithson and his resulting suffering. The work opens with the young Berlioz seeing the perfect-for-him woman. He cannot rid himself of her image. In the next movements he attends a gala, saunters through the countryside, experiences opium-fed visions and stumbles on a witches’ sabbath.

Symphonie fantastique plunges into psychology, reflecting its composer's drugged brain, tenacity and  hallucinations. It disturbs and energizes.

For the Berlioz portion, the Bloomington concert offers a listening guide, pre-recorded program notes read by poet Tony Brewer, and visuals such as musicians wearing poppies, animal masks during that witches' sabbath plus a slide-show to represent each movement.

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Music historians will help audience with listening guide

Music historians Alexis Witt and Christine Wisch will lead the listening guide, which features small sections of the orchestra playing motifs from the Symphonie. This allows the audience to recognize the motifs later in the performance.

Musicians will point out musical themes, drawing from Berlioz' writings on instrumentation and his memoirs and letters, then playing snippets to reinforce those moments.

"We play recordings of (Brewer) reading Berlioz' program notes and any other quotes we want to include in the script in between the movements of the Berlioz, during the actual performance of the piece," said Donna Lafferty, the symphony's executive director.

Berlioz wrote this in the program notes for Part Five, "Dream of a witches’ sabbath," from Berlioz.com: "He sees himself at a witches’ sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come together for his funeral. ... She joins the diabolical orgy. ... The funeral knell tolls."

Both the Berlioz and the Boulanger will include projected images.

Berlioz' obsession with actress Smithson, his imagined relationship with her and her romantic rejection of him crept into his writing "this unsettling tribute to her," Lafferty explained, adding the concert will show both Berlioz' and Smithson's sides of the story.

A performer from Off Night Productions and poet Brewer will portray some of the hard questions raised by Berlioz' behavior as he wrote this fierce piece.

"The Berlioz will feature four harps, three bassoons and a contrabassoon, which vibrates the whole floor!" Lafferty said. Lafferty, who also plays trombone with the symphony, knows: "I sit next to it."

If you go

WHAT: "Un Voyage Français: A French Journey": An interactive two-part concert. "Symphonie fantastique" by Hector Berlioz and "D’un soir triste" by Lili Boulanger, with listening guide, slideshows and frightening masks

WHEN: 5-6:30 p.m. May 12

WHERE: Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 114 E. Kirkwood Ave.,

TICKETS: $25 for adults; $12 for students; free for children 18 and younger. For tickets and more information, go to https://buskirkchumley.org/events.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington Symphony Orchestra's nontraditional program has images, guides