The Hopeless Romantic
On 8 March , Hector Berlioz () died in his house in the Rue de Calais in Paris. To commemorate the th year of his passing, we pay homage to the writer, conductor, traveler, lover, cynic and composer of startling originality, whose musical accomplishments and personal life became reflections of each other. Born in a small provincial town in the French Alps in , young Berlioz was inflamed by a deeply burning passion for poetry, literature, theater and music. He quickly rejected his father’s wishes to enter the medical profession, and writes in his memoirs. “Take part in horrible operations instead of giving myself body and soul to music, sublime art whose grandeur I was beginning to perceive! Forsake the highest heaven for the filthiest regions of earth, the immortal spirits of poetry and love and their divinely inspired strains for dirty hospital orderlies, dreadful dissection-room attendants, hideous corpses, the screams of patients, the groans and rattling breath of the dying!” Abandoning his medical studies he began to attend the Parisian Conservatoire in and officially studied composition with Le Sueur, something he had privately done for some time.
Hector Berlioz
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Who Was Hector Berlioz?
Hector Berlioz turned his back on a career in medicine to follow his passion for music, and went on to compose works that showcased the innovativeness and search for expression that were hallmarks of Romanticism. His well-known pieces include the Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts. At the age of 65, Berlioz died in Paris on March 8,
Early Life
Louis-Hector Berlioz was born on December 11, , in La Côte-St-André, Isère, France (near Grenoble). Hector Berlioz, as he was known, was entranced with music as a child. He learned to play the flute and guitar, and became a self-taught composer.
Heeding his physician father's wishes, Berlioz went to Paris in to study medicine. However, much of his time was spent at the Paris-Opéra, where he absorbed Christoph Willibald Gluck's operas. Two years later, he left medicine behind to become a composer.
Beginning a Career in Music
In , Berlioz enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire. The next year, he saw Harriet Smithson in the role of Ophelia and became captivated by the Irish actress. His ardor inspired the Symphonie fantastique (), a piece that broke new ground in orchestr
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz[1] (December 11, – March 8, ) was a French Romanticcomposer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts (Requiem). Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a conductor, he performed several concerts with more than 1, musicians.[2] He also composed around 50 songs.
Life and career
Early years
Hector Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André[3] in the département of Isère, near Lyon.[4] His father, a respected[5] provincial physician[6] and scholar, was responsible for much of the young Berlioz's education.[5] His father was an atheist,[6] with a liberal outlook;[7] his mother was an orthodox Roman Catholic.[5][6] He had five siblings in all, three of whom did not survive to adulthood.[8] The other two, Nanci and Adèle, remained close to Berlioz throughout his life.[7]
Unlike many other composers of the time, Berlioz was not a c
The great 19th century French composer Hector Berlioz holds a unique place in musical history. Far ahead of his time, he was one of the most original of great composers, but also an innovator as a practical musician, and a writer and critic whose literary achievement is hardly less significant than his musical output. Few musicians have ever excelled in all these different fields at once.
Available in English and French, this personal site is devoted to the music, life and works of this great figure. Created, funded and authored by two British academics, the site gives a panoramic view of Berlioz’s life and art, and seeks to recreate the context in which he worked. It also presents regularly updated news on everything which concerns Berlioz: performances of his music world-wide, bibliography, discography, reviews of live performances and contributions from regular visitors to the site. The table below maps out the contents of the site in detail. A separate page provides a short history of the site.
Please note that our site is entirely independent and does not represent or host any organisa
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