The two shepherds who are playing to one another are represented by a cor anglais (sitting in the orchestra) and an oboe which is played offstage so that it sounds distant. Then the main gentle countryside theme is heard on solo flute and violins. The "idée fixe" returns in the middle of the movement. The sound of distant thunder at the end of the movement is played by four timpani.
The movement starts with timpani rumbling and horns starting up the march theme. Then the cellos and double basses start the march in its full form, soon taken over by the violins. Just before he is executed there is a short repetition of the "idée fixe" on a solo clarinet, then the axe falls (a loud chord) and his head falls into the basket (one plucked note passed from the violins, through the violas, cellos and then double basses).
The "idée fixe" has now become a "vulgar dance tune", it is played on the E-flat clarinet. There are lots of effects, including ghostly "col legno" playing in the strings, the bubbling of the witches' cauldron played by the wind instruments. As the dance reaches a climax we hear the Dies Irae (Day of Judgement) melody together with the "Ronde du Sabbat" (Sabbath Round) which is a wild fugue.
In 1827 Berlioz went to a performance of Shakespeare’s play "Hamlet". It was played in English by a theatre group from England. Berlioz fell in love with Irish actress Harriet Smithson who played the part of Ophelia, He did not actually meet her, he just saw her acting on stage, but he sent her lots of love letters, but she left Paris without meeting him. He then wrote his Symphonie Fantastique. He then wrote the symphony to describe his love for her and his unhappiness because she was not interested in him. When Harriet heard the symphony two years after it was first performed, she realized that it was a symphony about her. She eventually met Berlioz and they were married on 3 October 1833. For several years the marriage was happy, although they did not speak one another’s language. However, after nine years they separated.
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is a boarding school in Sussex. The school was started in 1552. King Edward VI started it. The headmaster is John Franklin BA MEd Admin. It has 831 students. The school is very big.
Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough
Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough is a 2005 book by Professor Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss. "Affluenza" suggests that Western society consumes too many products and services. Hamilton and Denniss argue that people "aspire to the lifestyles of the rich and famous". They state that rates of stress, depression and obesity are high as people try to cope with the emptiness and disappointments of consumer life.
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. The first line-up was singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were most popular from 1977 to 1984.
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois (BQ) is a federal political party based in Canada that mainly believes and advocates Quebec should secede from Canada, also known as Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was created by Members of Parliament (MPs) from the national Progressive Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. They were angry that the Meech Lake Accord could not pass. The party is considered to be center-left. The leader of the party is currently Yves-François Blanchet.
The Bloc was always the party with the biggest number of seats in Quebec between 1993 and 2011. They were usually the second or third biggest party in the House of Commons. The party won only four seats in parliament after the 2011 federal election. In the 2019 federal election, the party won 32 seats in the House of Commons.
Angular Recording Corporation
Angular Recording Corporation is an independent record label that was first based in New Cross, South East London. It was started in June 2003 by two ex-Goldsmiths College students, Joe Daniel and Joe Margetts.
The Weather Makers
The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change (2005) is a book by Tim Flannery.
The book includes 36 short essays predicting the consequences of global warming. The book reviews the evidence about historical climate change and attempts to put our era into context. The book asserts that if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to increase at current rates, the resulting climate change will cause mass species extinctions.
The book received much critical acclaim, and has won a major literary prize.
Mumia
Mumia (also pulvis mumiae, Mumia vera aegyptiaca) was a powder made from ground mummies. It was used as a drug, for good health, and as a coloring agent (a medium to dark brown) until the 1920s. Eating ground mumified corpses is a form of cannibalism.
The powder was said to work against almost any disease. To mummify a corpse, tar was used. It was said this tar had magical powers. It was also said to be an aphrodisiac.
Nuclear or Not?
Nuclear or Not? Does Nuclear Power Have a Place in a Sustainable Energy Future? is a 2007 book edited by Professor David Elliott. The book offers various views on nuclear power. Authors include:
Professor Elliott calls for continued debate on the nuclear power issue. He is Professor of Technology Policy at the Open University, and has developed courses on technological innovation, focusing in particular on renewable energy technology.
Nuclear Nebraska
Nuclear Nebraska: The Remarkable Story of the Little County That Couldn’t Be Bought () is a 2007 book by Susan Cragin which follows the controversy about a proposed low level nuclear waste dump which was planned for Boyd County, Nebraska.
In 1989, two multinational corporations and several government agencies put forward a proposal for the waste dump and offered payment of $3 million a year for 40 years. However, the residents of the largely uneducated Boyd County farming community chose to resist the offer and controversy followed for almost two decades. During this time, the community was transformed "from a small group of isolated farmers to a defiant band of environmentalists". The opposition of the community eventually succeeded, and the license to build the dump was denied.
Hiroshima (book)
Hiroshima () is a magazine article written by Pulitzer Prize winner John Hersey that appeared in "The New Yorker" in August 1946, one year after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The article was soon made into a book. It described how the bombing affected the lives of six individuals:
Each account is followed by a brief statement describing how close each person was to the center of the blast.
Railways in Melbourne
Melbourne has a long history of railway building. The city's first railway opened in 1854, when in 1834 the city itself did not exist. The network then grew as lines were built throughout the suburbs, reaching a peak by the 1900s. Electrification of the system was carried out from 1919, with electric multiple unit operation starting at the same time.
Non-Nuclear Futures
Non-Nuclear Futures: The Case for an Ethical Energy Strategy is a 1975 book by Amory B. Lovins and John H. Price. The book says that the nuclear power debate is not about technical disputes but relates to different personal views (personal values). The personal values that make a high-energy society work are all too apparent, and the values associated with an alternate view relate to thrift, simplicity, diversity, neighbourliness, craftsmanship, and humility.
Lovins and Price say that these two different sets of personal values lead to two very different policy paths relating to future energy supplies. The first is high-energy nuclear, centralized, electric; the second is lower energy, non-nuclear, decentralized, less electrified, softer technology.
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