Berlioz
The piece was difficult to hear owing to the crowds and timpani of the drum corps. music from Benvenuto Cellini.Berlioz was on the verge of producing his most Romantic works—as were the writers Vigny, Dumas, Gautier and several others in attendance that night. He also met Heinrich Marschner in Hanover, Wagner in Dresden and Giacomo Meyerbeer in Berlin.
Amongst his more vocally-oriented works, the song cycle Les nuits d été and the oratorio L enfance du Christ have retained enduring appeal, as have the quasi-liturgical Te Deum and Grande messe des morts. The unconventional music of Berlioz irritated the established concert and opera While Berlioz is best known as a composer, he was also a prolific writer, and supported himself for many years by writing musical criticism, utilising a bold, vigorous style, at times imperious and sarcastic. This was almost not the case.
He wrote for many journals, including the Rénovateur, which took considerable time to write. Another noteworthy indicator of the importance Berlioz placed on journalistic integrity and even-handedness were the journals which he both did and did not write for. The books which Berlioz has become acclaimed for were compiled from his journal articles. . Berlioz met Franz Liszt who was also attending the concert.
He also entered into a relationship with singer Marie Recio who would become his second wife. In 1842, Berlioz embarked on a concert tour of Brussels, Belgium from September to October. Berlioz met a young woman called Amélie In 1864 Berlioz was made Officier de la Légion d honneur.
More profoundly, Shakespeare became a source, by way of its dramatic truth, for Berlioz fundamental notion of expressive truth; Berlioz was especially taken with Shakespeare s ability to pinpoint the heart of a dramatic conflict and penetrating the secrets of intense love. and he prepared for his trip back. Before returning to Rome, Berlioz composed the overtures to King Lear in Nice renamed Lélio in 1855. Upon his return to Rome, Berlioz posed for a portrait painting by Émile Signol (completed in April 1832), which Berlioz did not consider to be a good likeness of himself. Berlioz continued to travel throughout his stay in Italy.
As a result, he began to travel to other countries more often. For La damnation de Faust, Berlioz drew on Goethe s Faust; for Harold en Italie, he drew on Byron s Childe Harold; for Benvenuto Cellini, he drew on Cellini s own autobiography.
On the 29th I had finished, and was free to go out and roam about Paris till morning, pistol in hand . T.
In particular, towards the end of his life, he made a lot of money by touring Russia twice, the final visit proving extremely lucrative and also being the final conducting tour before his death. This left Berlioz dejected, and would prove to have been a crucial cross-roads in his life, forcing him to work long hours as a critic, which severely impaired his free time available for composition. From then on, he conducted at many different occasions, but mainly during grand tours of various countries where he was paid handsomely for visiting.
This is most evident in the thematic aspects of his music, particularly Harold en Italie (1834), a work inspired by Byron s Childe Harold. The inaugural concert, on 9 March 1828, featured the French premiere of the Eroica Symphony. For Berlioz the experience of hearing the Eroica brought the last and greatest revelation of the power of instrumental music as an expressive language, along with the freedom of action with which it could be expressive.
He found the city distasteful, writing, Rome is the most stupid and prosaic city I know; it is no place for anyone with head or heart. During his stay in Italy, he received a letter from the mother of his fiancée informing him that she had called off their engagement. This was later remedied by a concert performance a month later, and Wagner voiced his approval of the work. In 1841, Berlioz wrote recitatives for a production of Weber s Der Freischütz at the Paris Opéra and also orchestrated Weber s Invitation à la valse to add ballet music to it.
Later came The Tempest, King Lear, a funeral march for the final scene in Hamlet, the love scene for Les Troyens (which, some claim, Berlioz took from The Merchant of Venice), and Béatrice and Benedict. Berlioz discovered Goethe s Faust through Gérard de Nerval s translation, published in December 1827. Nowadays it is among the most popular of his overtures. In early 1844, Berlioz s highly influential Becoming ever more disenchanted with his prospects in France, he wrote: In 1847, during a seven-month visit to England, he was appointed conductor at the London Drury Lane Theatre He began composition of his Te Deum. In 1850 he became head librarian at the Paris Conservatoire, the only official post he would ever hold, and a valuable source of income. In 1856 Berlioz visited Weimar where he attended a performance of Benvenuto Cellini, conducted by Liszt.
This work would eventually become Les Troyens, Despite these grim prospects, Berlioz saw the work through to its completion in 1858. The onset of an intestinal illness which would plague Berlioz for the rest of his life had now become apparent to him. Later that year Berlioz finished composing the song cycle Les nuits d été for piano and voices (later to be orchestrated).
He later added Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert and Théophile Gautier to his list of favorites; he also used Gautier s poems as texts for his song cycle Les nuits d eté . Perhaps as a result of this reading and seeing himself as an archetypical tragic hero, Berlioz began to weave personal references into his music. Béatrice et Bénédict was completed on February 25, 1862. Marie Recio, Berlioz s wife, died unexpectedly of a stroke on June 13 at the age of 48.
Its impact on Berlioz was, again, profound and immediate, with the Faustian concept of man striking several chords with the composer. The other was to Shakespeare, which would become a lifelong love. The timing for these performances, not just for Berlioz career but also for French Romanticism in general, could not have been more apt.
For Roméo et Juliette, Berlioz turned, of course, to Shakespeare s Romeo and Juliet. In late 1835, he was approached by the management of a new concert hall in Paris, the Gymnase Musical, and offered a position as their musical director.
Hector Berlioz He also composed around 50 songs. Hector Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André Unlike many other composers of the time, Berlioz was not a child prodigy; he began studying music at age 12, when he began writing small compositions and arrangements. At times, it was as if he himself was actually experiencing the Romantic tales of Byron in person; consorting with brigands, corsairs, and peasants.
and that in Beethoven he saw a way to the dramatic manner in which he desired to compose. Most tellingly, hearing the Eroica inspired Berlioz to widen his horizons for the first time past opera and other vocal works and consider the expressive power of purely instrumental music. Next to those of Beethoven, Berlioz showed deep reverence for the works of Gluck, Mozart, Méhul, Wever and Spontini, as well as respect for some of those of Rossini, Meyerbeer and Verdi. Curiously perhaps, the adventures in chromaticism of his prominent contemporaries and associates Chopin and Wagner seemed to have had little effect on Berlioz s style. The five movement Symphonie fantastique, partly due to its fame, is considered by most to be Berlioz s most outstanding work, In addition to the Symphonie fantastique, some other orchestral works of Berlioz currently in the standard orchestral repertoire include his légende dramatique La damnation de Faust and symphonie dramatique Roméo et Juliette (both large-scale works for mixed voices and orchestra), and his concertante symphony (for viola and orchestra) Harold en Italie, several concert overtures also remain enduringly popular, such as Le Corsaire and Le Carnaval romain. Owing to a strict deadline, it was performed only days after it was completed.
Cherubini attempted to throw the impetuous Berlioz out of the library since he was not a formal music student at that time. Despite his parents disapproval, the overture survives and is sometimes played in concert. In 1826 he began attending the Conservatoire In 1828 Berlioz heard Beethoven s third and fifth symphonies performed at the Paris Conservatoire - an experience that he found overwhelming. He began and finished composition of the Symphonie fantastique in 1830, a work which would bring Berlioz much fame and notoriety. Towns visited included Berlin, Hanover, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Weimar, Hechingen, Darmstadt, Dresden, Brunswick, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Mannheim.
The work was finished the following year and was premiered shortly after. Between 1842 and 1863 he traveled to Germany, England, Austria, Russia and elsewhere, In 1840, the Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale was commissioned to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the July Revolution of 1830.
This decision launched what was to become a lucrative and creatively fruitful career in conducting music both by himself and other leading composers. Berlioz composed the opera Benvenuto Cellini in 1836. He also immersed himself in Chateaubriand, E.
Liszt would later transcribe the entire Symphonie fantastique for piano to enable more people to hear it. On December 30, 1831, Berlioz left France for Rome, prompted by a clause in the Prix de Rome which required winners to spend two years studying there. Roméo et Juliette was premiered in a series of three concerts later in 1839 to distinguished audiences, one including Richard Wagner. The same year Roméo premiered, Berlioz was appointed Conservateur Adjoint (Deputy Librarian) Paris Conservatoire Library.
He returned to Paris in November 1832. Between 1830 and 1840, Berlioz wrote many of his most popular and enduring works. Shakespeare served as a model for French Romanticism, Shakespeare for Berlioz represented the summit of poetic utterance, with the bard s veracity of dramatic expression and freedom from formal constraints resounding in the composer s spirit.
It was a success both at home and abroad, unlike later great vocal works such as La damnation de Faust and Les Troyens, which were commercial failures. He described Shakespeare and Goethe in an 1828 letter as the silent confidants of my suffering; they hold the key to my life. Simultaneous with Berlioz s discovery of Shakespeare was his immersion in the texts of true Romanticism.
Although none of his major works were actually written in Italy, his travels and experiences there would later influence and inspire much of his music. As his fourth cantata for submittal to the Prix de Rome neared completion, the July Revolution broke out.
Berlioz supported himself and his family by writing musical criticism for Paris publications, primarily Journal des débats for over thirty years, and also Gazette musicale and Le rénovateur. After the 1830s, Berlioz found it increasingly difficult to achieve recognition for his music in France. His composition Tristia (for orchestra and chorus) drew its inspiration from Shakespeare s Hamlet. In 1827, Berlioz watched Irish actress Harriet Smithson at the Odéon theatre playing Ophelia and Juliet in Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
This allowed him to focus on writing the dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette for voices, chorus and orchestra. In his last opera, the comic opera Béatrice et Bénédict, Berlioz prepared a libretto based loosely on Shakespeare s Much Ado About Nothing.
In Leipzig he met Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann, the latter of whom had written an enthusiastic article on the Symphonie fantastique. Enraged, Berlioz decided to return to Paris and take revenge on Pleyel, his fiancée, and her mother by killing all three of them.
A week later, while walking in the Montmartre Cemetery, he discovered Amélie s grave: she had been dead for six months. The performance was held in the open air on July 28, conducted by Berlioz himself, at the Place de la Bastille.
Roméo et Juliette may have been the first. Italy was important in providing Berlioz with experiences that would be impossible in France.
After arriving in Nice (at that time, part of Italy), he reconsidered the entire plan, deciding it to be inappropriate and foolish. He entered into a relationship with - and subsequently became engaged to - Camille Moke, despite the symphony being inspired by Berlioz s obsession with Harriet Smithson.
All three inspired Berlioz to compose works based on theirs. As a result of his father s discouragement, he never learned to play the piano, a peculiarity he later described as both beneficial and detrimental. Still at age 12, as recalled in his Mémoires, he experienced his first passion for a woman, an 18 year old next door neighbour named Estelle Fornier (née Dubœuf).
I was finishing my cantata when the revolution broke out , he recorded in his Mémoires, I dashed off the final pages of my orchestral score to the sound of stray bullets coming over the roofs and pattering on the wall outside my window. Benvenuto Cellini was premiered at the Paris Opéra on September 10, but was a failure due to a hostile audience. Thanks to the money Paganini had given him after hearing Harold, Berlioz was able to pay off Harriet s and his own debts and suspend his work as a critic.
It may in fact have been his love for Shakespeare, shared with the other young artist-heroes of 19th-century France, that drew Berlioz firmly into the brotherhood of Romanticism. Berlioz writes in his Memoirs, He was able to hear Beethoven s works through the performances of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, an orchestra founded by François Antoine Habeneck and his colleagues to promote modern orchestral music. This led to two intense infatuations.
This proved to be the beginning of a long friendship. He visited Pompeii, Naples, Milan, Tivoli, Florence, Turin and Genoa.
This enabled him not only to perform his music to a wider audience, but also to increase his influence across Europe - for example, his orchestration was studied by many Russian composers. He was to spend much effort and money in the following decades trying to have it performed successfully.
For Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz was inspired in part by Thomas de Quincey s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. On August 22, Berlioz heard from a friend that Amélie, who had been suffering from poor health, had died at the age of 26.
Hoffmann, James Fenimore Cooper and his compatriots Victor Hugo, Alfred de Vigny, Alfred de Musset and Gérard de Nerval. He created an elaborate plan, going so far as to purchase a dress, wig and hat with a veil (with which he was to disguise himself as a woman in order to gain entry to their home).
Time and again through the years, Berlioz would distill the favorite image of a play and distill it into musical terms. Instead her daughter was to marry Camille Pleyel (son of Ignaz Pleyel), a rich piano manufacturer.
A. He wrote: Berlioz met Estelle Fornier - the object of his childhood affections - in Lyon for the first time in 40 years, and began a regular correspondence with her. On March 8, 1869, The Catholic Encyclopedia claims Berlioz as a Catholic. Berlioz s work as a conductor was highly influential Despite this talent, Berlioz never held an employed position of conductor during his lifetime, forced to be content with only guest conducting.
In December he began a tour in Germany which continued until the middle of next year. Not just fellow hyper-Romantic Tchaikovsky, but also members of The Five are indebted to these techniques, including Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, but even Modest Mussorgsky - often portrayed as uninterested in refined orchestration - revered Berlioz Similarly, his conducting technique as described by contemporary sources appears to set the groundwork for the clarity and precision favoured in the French School of conducting right up to the present, exemplified by such figures as Pierre Monteux, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, Paul Paray, Charles Munch, André Cluytens, Pierre Boulez and Charles Dutoit. Although neglected in France for much of the 19th century, the music of Berlioz has often been cited as extremely influential in the development of the symphonic form, During his centenary in 1903, while receiving attention from all leading musical reference books, he was still not generally accepted as being one of the great composers. In 2003, the bicentenary of Berlioz s birth, his achievements and status are much more widely recognised, Berlioz had a keen affection for literature, and many of his best compositions are inspired by literary works.
He recalled in his Mémoires his first encounter with Luigi Cherubini, the Conservatoire s then music director. His time with Liszt also highlighted Berlioz s increasing lack of appreciation for Wagner s music, much to Liszt s annoyance. Berlioz was convinced by Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein - with whom he had corresponded for some time - that he should begin to compose a new opera.
For his magnum opus, the monumental opera Les Troyens, Berlioz turned to Virgil s epic poem The Aeneid. These included the works of Thomas Moore, Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron.
By the time he had reached Genoa, he realised he left his disguise in the side pocket of a carriage during his journey. to use as poisons in the event of a pistol jamming. Despite this careful planning, Berlioz failed to carry through with the plot.
Berlioz later identified the love scene from this choral symphony, as he called it, as his favourite composition. One was to Smithson, which would result in a disastrous marriage.
(by age twelve he had learned to read Virgil in Latin and translate it into French under his father s tutelage), Shakespeare, and Beethoven. In 1821, at age 18, Berlioz was sent to Paris to study medicine, He began to take advantage of the institutions he now had access to in the city, including his first visit to the Paris Opéra, where he saw Iphigénie en Tauride by Christoph Willibald Gluck, a composer whom he came to admire above all, jointly alongside Ludwig van Beethoven. He also began to visit the Paris Conservatoire library, seeking out scores of Gluck s operas and making personal copies of parts of them. The foremost of these are the Symphonie fantastique (1830), Harold en Italie (1834), the Grande messe des morts (Requiem) (1837) and Roméo et Juliette (1839). On Berlioz s return to Paris, a concert including Symphonie fantastique (which had been extensively revised in Italy) In 1834, virtuoso violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini commissioned Berlioz to compose a viola concerto, Around this time, Berlioz decided to conduct most of his own concerts, tired as he was of conductors who did not understand his music.
Berlioz later recalled that his, intention was to write a series of orchestral scenes, in which the solo viola would be involved as a more or less active participant While in Rome, he stayed at the French Academy in the Villa Medici. These secrets, Berlioz suggested in the text of Roméo et Juliette the playwright took with him to heaven.
