Hector Berlioz composed Le carnaval romain, ouverture pour orchestre (Roman Carnival Overture), Op. 9, in in 1844. Intended to be performed as an independent piece, it employs themes from Berlioz’ opera Benvenuto Cellini: The beautiful melody on cor anglais in the slow introduction comes from the Act I duet between Teresa and Cellini, and the rousing central section uses music from the opera’s carnival scene later in Act I. The Roman Carnival Overture, which was a huge success for the composer, is scored for large orchestra and is in the key of A major.
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The featured image is a detail from “Carnival in Rome” (C. 1650), by Johannes Lingelbach, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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The Roman Carnival, Goethe, the german poet, points out, is not a festival given for the people, but one the people give themselves…