Transcript Hector Berlioz - Woodlawn School Wiki

Early Years
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Hector Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André.
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He had five siblings in all, three of whom did not survive to adulthood. The
other two, Nanci and Adèle, remained close to Berlioz throughout his life.
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Berlioz was not a child prodigy, unlike some other famous composers of the
time; he began studying music at age 12, when he began writing small
compositions and arrangements. As a result of his father's discouragement, he
never learned to play the piano.
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He became proficient at guitar, flageolet and flute. He learned harmony by
textbooks alone—he was not formally trained. The majority of his early
compositions were romances and chamber pieces.
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In March 1821, he graduated from high school in Grenoble, and in October,
at age 18, Berlioz was sent to Paris to study medicine, a field for which he had
no interest and, later, outright disgust after viewing a human corpse being
dissected.
Hector Berlioz
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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.
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He also began to visit the Paris Conservatoire library, seeking out scores of Gluck's
operas and making personal copies of parts of them.
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Despite his parents' disapproval, in 1824 he formally abandoned his medical
studies to pursue a career in music. He composed the Messe solennelle. This work
was rehearsed and revised after the rehearsal but not performed until the following
year. Berlioz later claimed to have burnt the score, but it was re-discovered in 1991.
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In 1826 he began attending the Conservatoire in Paris to study composition.
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He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works, and conducted several
concerts with more than 1,000 musicians. He also composed around 50 songs. His
influence was critical for the further development of Romanticism, especially in
composers like Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Franz Liszt, Richard
Strauss, Gustav Mahler and many others.
Hector Berlioz
 Between 1830 and 1840, Berlioz wrote many of his
most popular and enduring works. 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).
 Berlioz's work as a conductor was highly influential
and brought him fame across Europe. He was
considered by Charles Hallé, Hans von Bülow and
others to be the greatest conductor of his era.
 He was considered extremely progressive for his day,
and he, Wagner, and Liszt have been called the "Great
Trinity of Progress" of 19th century Romanticism.
Significant Works
 Symphonie fantastique, 1830
 Roméo et Juliette (1839)
 Harold en Italie (1834)
 Romance: Rêverie et caprice, for violin and orchestra
 Messe solenelle (1824)
Listen…
 Symphonie Fantastiquehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE1_vyWORoE
 Romeo and Julietehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5MJDd8zEOM
 Romance: Rêverie et caprice, for violin and orchestrahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyotBqnzyrI