Hector Berlioz

                Hector Berlioz was an important composer in the Early Romantic era.  Born in a small 

        town in south-eastern France in 1803, at 18 he went to Paris to study medicine.  Before then, 

        Berlioz had never heard an orchestra.  Three years later he was studying music at the Paris 

        Conservatoire.  Just six years later, the 27 year old premiered Symphonie fantastique which 

        built upon and went beyond the revolution in symphony composing created by Ludwig van 

        Beethoven, who had died just three years earlier.   Symphonie fantastique was the very first 

        instrumental work that told a story.

 
                Berlioz's independence of mind and refusal to conform to the traditional music rules and 

        formulas put him at odds with the conservative musical establishment of Paris.  Opinion was 

        divided for many years between those who thought him an original genius and those who 

        viewed his music as lacking in form and coherence.  Today, opinion leans heavily toward his 

        being a genius.   

                 At age twenty-four Berlioz fell in love with the Irish Shakespearean actress Harriet 
        Smithson while seeing her play Ophelia in a performance of Hamlet, and he obsessively 

        pursued her.  This inspired Symphonie fantastique.  Smithson heard the symphony in 1833 

        and then agreed to marry him.  Their marriage was happy at first but eventually foundered 

        and they separated. 

Harriet Smithson

                 Meeting only occasional success in France as a composer, Berlioz turned to conducting,
        in which he gained an international reputation.  He also wrote musical criticism throughout 

        much of his career; and his Treatise on Instrumentation (1844) was influential in the 19th
        and 20th centuries.  Early on, Berlioz was helped financially by Franz Liszt who admired 

        Berlioz's  music.  At 19, Liszt had been at the 1830 premier of  Symphonie fantastique.  Just 

         a few years later Liszt was the most famous musician in Europe.  He transcribed Berlioz's 

        masterpiece for piano and performed it on his wildly popular European  tours. 

 

                 Berlioz's late opera Les Troyens  (1856 - 1858) was of such monumental scale it was  

        never performed in full version during Berlioz's lifetime.  It is now considered one of the 
        great operas of the 19th century.  It, along with Symphonie fantastique, are Berlioz's two 

        most enduring works. 

                 Berlioz was certainly mentally unstable, but to what degree is a matter of debate.      
         Berlioz died in Paris at the age of 65 and was buried beside Smithson in Montmartre.


     Major Works:

              Symphonie fantastique (1830)  symphony  (program music)

              Harold in Italy  (1834)  symphony  (program music)           

              Requiem  (Grande Messe des morts)  (1837)  choral work

              Roméo et Juliette   (1839)  "dramatic symphony"  (Berlioz's term)  (program music)

              Les nuits d'été  (Summer Nights)  (1841)  chausson (song) cycle

              La Damnation de Faust  (1846)  "dramatic legend"  (Berlioz's term)  (vocals & orchestra)

              L'Enfance du Christ  (1854)  oratorio 

              Les Troyens  (1856 - 1858)  opera