NATASHA ZAHOR

Music History 2

19TH CENTURY
NATIONALISM: DAUMIER
AND BERLIOZ
Paper No. 2

The romantic period was a very political time. In France, especially, nationalism was an
important element of the 19th century. Between 1814 and 1830, France saw four separate leaders
come to power from Louis the VIII to Louis-Philippe. With revolution after revolution breaking
out in their country, people of the arts began portraying French nationalism in their works.
Honore Daumier was known for his political cartoons and drawings, but in this paper, one
specific drawing will be the focus. Hector Berlioz, a great composer from a generation of
prideful Frenchmen, was highly involved in politics and was one of many that held a deep regret
for being too young to participate in the revolution that brought the fall of Napoleon.1 In this
paper, many of his works and how they relate to nationalism will be addressed.
On April 15th 1834 at five in the morning, King Louis-Philppe ordered his royal troops to storm
the houses of Rue Transnonia in Paris.2 Here many innocent men, women, and children were
murdered. And of course this was not treated as a crime because no act from the government was
a crime.3 Honore Daumier, however, very much saw this a crime. He drew his famous drawing
Rue Transnonia in 1934 shortly after the event (See appendix). The drawing depicted a graphic
scene of a deathly fate of a man in his night clothes.4 Daumier wanted to spread the word to other
people of France that their leader was not great and the government needed to be changed. In this
act, he was trying to unify the French people for one cause. At first glance one may say the

1 Hugh McDonald, Berliozs Napoleonic Te Deum, The Choral Journal 43 (2002)):

9-17.
2 Peter Bloom, Berlioz: Reflections on a nonpolitical man, The Yale University
Library Gazette 78 (2003)): 19-38.
3 Ibid.
4 Jake Perlman-Garr, The Social Realists and Impressionists: History in a different
perspective, (2004).
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drawing is one of horror, but after understanding the meaning behind the piece and reviewing
politics of 19th century France, this piece is obviously nationalistic.
In 1830, France experienced one of their most famous revolutions, The July Revolution. Because
of this event, King Charles the tenth, was finally defeated and King Louis-Philippe took reign.5
Many Frenchmen were lost during the revolution and their families were left to suffer. This is
why Hector Berlioz decided to put on one last grand vocal and instrumental concert at the
Conservatoire in France before leaving for Italy for two years. The concert consisted of his
famous Symphonie Fantastique, the overture to Berliozs never performed opera Les
Francjunges, two excerpts from Melodies Irlandaises, and his cantata for tenor and orchestra
Sardanapale.6 He called his concert Au Benefice de blesses de Juillet or For the Benefit of
those wounded in July. All proceeds made from the concert went directly to the family of those
wounded.7 Berlioz even invited King Louis-Philippe to the event. The King never showed but he
did however, send three hundred francs for the cause.8 The event was quite large and received a
tremendous amount of support from the French people.
After the concert, Berlioz left to spend two years in Italy. In 1832, on his train ride home, he
wrote Larmee dItalie. The ride home gave him much time to enjoy the landscape of Italy and
the landscapes reminded him of the Alps and Napoleons victories in Italy in 1796-7. The piece

5 Bloom, 22.
6 Bloom, 24.
7 Bloom, 25.
8 Ibid.
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was meant as a farewell from the Alps to those who had fallen on Italian battle fields. It also
portrayed the conquerors side and told the story of the victors triumphal entry back into Paris.9
Eight years later Berlioz wrote a piece of music to celebrate a decade free of King Charles the
tenth. He was told to write a funeral piece for the event.10 The piece, which is in three
movements, was first called symphonie militare when it was meant to be performed outside with
a 200 person symphony filled with winds and brass alone. The venue later changed to an indoor
setting and Berlioz had to change what was originally his outside plan. Berlioz had this basic
thought about composing: mighty buildings need mighty music and a small theatre needs modest
music. Music must match the space in which it is heard.11 So, Berlioz being Berlioz, the piece
was changed to Grande Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale or The Grand Funeral and Triumphal
Symphony. This new rendition now had a much smaller symphony and included strings.12 The
first movement was a funeral march and it was to be played as the bodies of the dead were being
carried in the procession. The second movement is an adieu written for the dead as they were
lowered into their vaults. The third movement is an apotheosis meant to make the audience feel
euphoric as the souls of the dead floated to heaven.13 This was another grand celebration of
French nationalism that Berlioz took part in.

9 McDonald, 9.
10 Bloom, 27.
11 Bloom, 27-9.
12 Bloom, 29.
13 Hector Berlioz and Joseph Bennett, The Great Composers, Sketched by
Themselves No. X. Berlioz (Continued), The Musical Times and Singing Class
Circular 22 (1881)): 348-51.
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Throughout the 19th century, artists and musicians played a huge role in forming nationalism
amongst their people. Both Daumier and Berlioz were major artists who sought to unify the
people of France. They were, in their own way, leaders of the revolution with their persuasive
art. Whether it was in France or any other country in Europe in the 19th century, nationalism was
an important element and drove Europe through the romantic period.

Appendix

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Bibliography
Berlioz, Hector, and Joseph Bennett. 1881. The Great Composers, Sketched by Themselves. No. X.
Berlioz (continued). The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular 22 (461). Musical Times
Publications Ltd.: 34851. doi:10.2307/3358845.

BLOOM, PETER. 2003. BERLIOZ: REFLECTIONS ON A NONPOLITICAL MAN. The Yale University
Library Gazette 78 (1/2). Yale University: 1938.
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/stable/40859303.

Macdonald, Hugh. 2002. Berlioz's Napoleonic "te Deum". The Choral Journal 43 (4). American Choral
Directors Association: 917. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/stable/23554299.

Perlman-Garr, Jake. "Rue Transnonia." The Social Realists and Impressionists:

History in a Different Perspective. 2004. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
<http://projects.ecfs.org/bome/cities/HBand2004/Paris/Group/JPerlmanGarr/Index.html>.

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