Berlioz` Harold in Italy is a weird hybrid of symphony and viola concerto, often referred to as: The longest viola joke in the world. It is a beautiful piece of music, but eccentric in the way the soloist is used. Primarily lyrical, not at all heroic or virtuosic. Actually the soloist part is more that of a voyeur than an acteur. In the last movement playing very little, meaning standing in front of the orchestra in tails for 13 min. looking embarrassed.
The score and the musical storytelling makes total sense, and the soloist impersonating a crossing of Childe Harold, Lord Byron himself and Berlioz, wandering in the mountains observing rather than taking part.
But how to bring it off on stage in a totally convincing way, not seeming weird, but rather entertaining and poetic?
I have found little theatrical elements that supports this unique role on stage, and makes the soloist persona understandable.
1. A costume of a 19th century traveler-poet.
2. Not standing still on the soloist place, but moving around a bit. This might sound fuzzy, but is in fact surprisingly not, as it makes sense to the score.
3. I have some ideas of projections that could be on a big screen behind the orchestra. Theodor Kittelsen series Soria Moria www.nasjonalmuseet.no
This has many elements that match the world of the symphony, the dreaming, the fantastic, certainly the mountain landscape. They are illustrations to folk fairytale, collected by Asbjørnsen in 1843, The Symphony written in 1834.
