Introduction -
Biography
Introduction
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) is one of the most colorful and fascinating
figures on the cultural and intellectual map of the French nineteenth
century. Well grounded in the classics and destined by his physician
father for a medical career, the young man was caught up in the musical
whirlpool of Paris in the romantic decade of the 1820s, studied at
the famous Conservatoire de Musique, and pursued for more than four
decades a multi-faceted career of composer, conductor, concert producer,
journalist, and man of letters. His struggles to have his original
ideas accepted, to make ends meet, and to find true love, became the
stuff of writings rich in wit and wisdom and yet, at times, tinged
with tragedy. His career as an itinerant conductor had an impact on
a lasting strain of conscientious performance practice. His treatise
on modern instrumentation influenced generations of composers. And
his compositions themselves, many of them sui generis, have led both
to admiration and to aesthetic debate for more than a century and
a half. As we approach the two-hundredth anniversary of this birth
(in 2003), it is fitting that this site bring together a comprehensive
accounting of his life and work.
The Life
This site will present a detailed chronology of the life of Berlioz
with a selection of contemporary events, cultural and political, in
France.
It will consider Berlioz's life in three phases — a period of
"initiation" (1803-1830); a period of "innovation"
(1830-1848); and a period of "introspection" (1848-1869).
These phases, demarcated by the political upheavals of 1830 and 1848,
are those set out in The Life of Berlioz (Cambridge University Press).
The Musical Works
The site will eventually provide access, it is hoped, to the complete
thematic catalogue of the works of Berlioz. It will include brief
descriptions of the major musical works (written explicitly for this
purpose) and it will provide links to more extensive analytical essays
about individual works including some prepared specifically for Andante.com.
The Literary Works
The site will include a concise catalogue of Berlioz's complete literary works:
the books, treatises, reports, and music criticism for the daily and weekly
press. It will offer a preface to the Mémoires and a fully searchable
version of the original French text of Berlioz's most famous book. We hope also
to offer a modern and fully searchable translation of the Mémoires in
English, as well as access to his other writings in both the original French
and in English translation.
The site will furthermore include links to analytical essays regarding the literary
works, including some prepared specifically for Andante.com.
Bibliography
The site will offer a selected, up-to-date, and annotated bibliography of recent,
important writings on Berlioz and links to Berlioz biographies on the web.
Berlioz on the Web
From Andante.com one will be able to find all other sites with useful information
regarding the life and work of Berlioz.
Berlioz on CD, video, DVD, etc.
The site will offer a selected, annotated list of new and historical recordings
and videos.
Berlioz in Performance
The site will maintain a list of major Berlioz performances forthcoming throughout
the world.
Calendar of Conferences and Exhibitions
The site will inform interested parties of all major conferences and exhibitions
forthcoming and pertaining to Berlioz.
This site will be edited and coordinated by Peter Bloom, Grace Jarcho Ross
Professor of Humanities in the Department of Music at Smith College, author
of The Life of Berlioz, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz, member
of the Panel of Advisors of The New Berlioz Edition, author of many articles
pertaining to the life and work of Berlioz, and member of the Comité
International Hector Berlioz.
