Symphonie fantastique, premiered in 1830, is a long symphony for its time. Its chief novelty was that it had a title and a detailed programme, supplied by the composer. It is not strictly autobiographical, although the programme’s unnamed protagonist represents Berlioz himself. He had many reasons for composing such a work, which are discussed in the Introduction. There follows a translation of the programme and an outline of the symphony, preparing later discussion of each movement. One unusual feature is his use of a single melody, the idée fixe, in each movement; it represents the image of a beloved woman. Berlioz revised the symphony over many years before publishing it, and also revised the programme for performances with its sequel, the monodrama of the protagonist’s ‘Return to Life’ (known as Lélio), premiered in 1832 in the presence of the Irish actor Harriet Smithson, who became Berlioz’s first wife.

From his own time up to the present, Robert Schumann has been associated with the idea of subjectivity, to an extent perhaps greater than any other composer in the Western tradition. This opening section traces the historical reach of the connection between Schumann’s music and subjectivity, its situation in early nineteenth-century (and primarily German) discourses about the self and interiority, and starts to unravel the range of meanings contained in the term subjectivity. I outline the three primary aims of the following book, which can be given as Critical, Musical, and Philosophical. Finally, this section provides an overview of the ensuing argument of the book.