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This page intentionally left blank Berlioz’s Orchestration Treatise A Translation and Commentary Berlioz’s orchestration treatise is a classic textbook which has been used as a guide to orchestration and as a source book for the understanding both of Berlioz’s music and of orchestral practice in the nineteenth century. This is the first new English translation of Berlioz’s complete text since 1856, and it is accompanied throughout by Hugh Macdonald’s extensive and authoritative commentary on the instruments of Berlioz’s time and on his own orchestral practice, as revealed in his scores. It also includes extracts from Berlioz’s writings on instruments in his Memoirs and in his many articles for the Parisian press. The Treatise has been highly valued both for its technical information about instruments and for its poetic and visionary approach to the art of instrumentation. It includes a chapter on the orchestra itself, seen as a giant independent instrument, and on the art of conducting, one of the first documents of its kind. Berlioz was not only one of the great orchestrators of the nineteenth century, he was also the author with the clearest understanding of the art. hugh macdonald is Avis Blewett Professor of Music at Washington University, St Louis. He has been General Editor of the New Berlioz Edition since its inception in 1967. He has edited The Selected Letters of Berlioz (1995) and Volumes IV, V, VI, VII and VIII of the Berlioz Correspondance g´en´erale (1992– ). He is also author of Skryabin (1978) and Berlioz (1982). CAMBRIDGE MUSICAL TEXTS AND MONOGRAPHS General editors: John Butt and Laurence Dreyfus This series has as its centres of interest the history of performance and the history of instruments. It includes annotated translations of authentic historical texts on music and monographs on various aspects of historical performance and instrument history. Recent titles j o h n bu t t Bach Interpretation: Articulation Marks in the Sources of J.S. Bach n i c h o l a s t h i s t l e t h wa i t e The Making of the Victorian Organ c h r i s to p h e r pa g e (trans. and ed.) Summa musice: A ThirteenthCentury Manual for Singers a r a da l p ow e l l (trans. and ed.) The Virtuoso Flute Player by Johann George Tromlitz b e t h bu l l a r d (trans. and ed.) Musica getutscht: A Treatise on Musical Instruments by Sebastian Virdung dav i d r ow l a n d A History of Pianoforte Pedalling j o h n bu t t Music Education and the Art of Performance in the German Baroque r e b e c c a h a r r i s wa r r i c k and c a r o l m a r s h Musical Theatre at the Court of Louis XIV Le Mariage de la Grosse Cathos j u l i a n n e c . ba i r d ( trans. and ed.) Introduction to the Art of Singing by Johann Friedrich Agricola va l e r i e wa l d e n One Hundred Years of Violoncello A History of Technique and Performance Practice, 1740–1840 b e r n a r d b r au c h l i The Clavichord s u z a n n e j . b e i c k e n (trans. and ed.) Treatise on Vocal Performance and Ornamentation by Johann Adam Hiller h u g h m ac d o n a l d (trans. and ed.) Berlioz’s Orchestration Treatise A Translation and Commentary Frontispiece Berlioz, Grand trait´e d’ instrumentation et d’ orchestration modernes, Paris [1844], title page. Berlioz’s Orchestration Treatise A Translation and Commentary HUGH MACDONALD The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org © Cambridge University Press 2004 First published in printed format 2002 ISBN 0-511-03709-0 eBook (Ado