Background
Hector Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André in 1803. His father, Louis Berlioz, was a physician of repute, and by his desire Hector for some time devoted himself to the study of medicine.
conductor music critic composer of the romantic movement
Hector Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André in 1803. His father, Louis Berlioz, was a physician of repute, and by his desire Hector for some time devoted himself to the study of medicine.
France was at war, the schools were disrupted; and Berlioz received his education from his father, an enlightened and cultured physician, who gave him his first lessons in music as well as in Latin. But, like many composers, Berlioz received in his early years little formal training in music. In 1821 his father sent him to Paris to study medicine, and for a year he followed his courses faithfully enough to obtain his first degree in science. He took every opportunity to go to the Paris-Opéra, however, where he studied, score in hand, the whole repertory, in which the works of Gluck had for him the most appeal and authority. His musical vocation had become so clear in his mind that he contrived to be accepted as a pupil of Jean-François Lesueur, professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire. This led to disagreements between Berlioz and his parents that embittered nearly eight years of his life. He persevered, took the obligatory courses at the Conservatoire, and in 1830 won the Prix de Rome, having received second prize in an earlier competition.
From the age of 12 Hector was producing compositions for the local ensemble, some of them based on the extraordinary kind of melody which was his native gift.
We know that the second subject of the Francs-Juges Overture (1826) and the opening bars of the Symphonie Fantastique (1830) were first used in some of these juvenile works.
In a later autobiographical fragment he characterized this as "my Thirty Years' War against the professors, the routineers, and the tone-deaf. "
In less epigrammatic form, it can be described as exposing all Europe to the dramatic idiom of the symphony as developed by Beethoven, and to the principles of orchestral composition which Berlioz evolved as a necessary consequence of his uncommon melodic invention.
Despite unmistakable turns of phrase that proclaim them Berlioz' handiwork, each of these scores establishes a distinct style.
Berlioz' private life was punctuated by deep sorrows, the details of which may be read in his admirable Memoirs (1870).
Friendships of an unusually lasting sort testify to Berlioz' affectionate and upright character.
The works in which Berlioz exhibited and elaborated his forms and styles are, in order of composition: Symphonie Fantastique (1830), Harold in Italy (1834), Benvenuto Cellini (1836), Requiem Mass (1837), Romeo and Juliet (1839), Funeral and Triumphal Symphony (1840), Nuits d'Etéd'Ete (1841), The Damnation of Faust (1846), Te Deum (1849), The Infant Christ (1854), Les Troyens (1858), BéatriceBeatrice and BénédictBenedict (1862).
These works, plus half a dozen separate overtures and as many volumes of songs, Berlioz carried to the four corners of Europe by means of his concerts.
Between 1842 and his retirement in 1867, Berlioz repeatedly toured the Germanies, Russia, and England with a repertoire consisting largely of Beethoven, Gluck, Weber, and his own works.
He used these performances to test by ear the principles of composition he had intuitively discovered.
Some of these he consigned in his Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration (1844; 1855).
In the intervals of composing, conducting, and organizing concerts, Berlioz had to earn a living, for the conditions of music in the 19th century favored the solo performer of light or "brilliant" pieces at the expense of other artists.
Berlioz earned his livelihood as music critic for the influential Journal des Débats, where his Tuesday article soon became an important feature.
Hector Berlioz had a trenchant and witty pen as well as a depth of knowledge and feeling.
On 3 October 1833 Berlioz and Harriet Smithson got married in a civil ceremony at the British Embassy with Liszt as one of the witnesses. The following year their only child, Louis Berlioz, was born. The marriage was a tempestuous mistake. In 1840 he separated from his wife, who died in 1854. Six months later Berlioz married to Marie Recio. In 1827, Berlioz watched Irish actress Harriet Smithson at the Odéon theatre. This led to two intense infatuations.