... him the most recognition was a program symphony, Symphonie fantastique. Berlioz used this symphony to express his feelings about Harriet Smithson. The symphony tells the story of a young poet who has taken an overdose of drugs and has a series of dreams about his beloved. The beloved is represented by a recurrent theme known as the idée fixe (French for "fixed idea"); this theme appears in several different permutations depending on how he feels about the woman at the time. The five movements are as follows, with Berlioz's descriptions: 1. Reveries, Passions. "He remembers the weariness of soul, the indefinable yearning he knew before meeting his beloved. Then, the volcanic love with which she at once inspired him, his delirious suffering, his religious consolation." 2. A Ball. "Amid the tumult and excitement of a brilliant ball he glimpses the loved one again." 3. Scene in the Fields. "On a summer evening in ...

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