Autobiography of Hector Berlioz

by Berlioz, Hector; Holmes, Rachel; Holmes, Eleanor

• ISBN13: 9781108031929
• ISBN10: 1108031927
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-02
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Hector Berlioz (1803-69) was one of the most original and colourful composers of his generation whose music was in many ways ahead of its time. He was also a respected journalist and critic. Begun in 1848, his celebrated Mémoires were completed by 1865 but published posthumously in 1870. They are the best-known of his writings and reflect the man - passionate, imaginative, idealistic, opinionated and witty - and give a fascinating, first-hand, insight into his life. He shares his uncompromising thoughts on his contemporaries and the musical establishment in France, writes candidly about his love affairs and engagingly on his music and travels. This first English translation from the original French, published in 1884, will appeal to the music lover and the general reader. Volume 1 (1803-41) includes his childhood in the Isère, studies in Paris, struggles to establish himself and travels in Italy during 1831-2.

Table of Contents

Preface

La Côte St. André

My father

Meylan

First music lessons from my father

A year of medical studies

I become one of Lesueur's pupils

A first opera

Augustin de Pons

First interview with Cherubini

My father withdraws my allowance

I return to Paris

I compete for a place as chorus singer, and get it

First composition for the orchestra

Competition at the Conservatoire

Evenings at the Opéra

Weber at the Odéon

Prejudice against operas with Italian words

Shakespeare

A futile concert

Beethoven at the Conservatoire

Fatality

The competition for musical composition

The Academy porter

Miss Smithson again

My third trial at the Conservatoire

I read Goethe's Faust for the first time

Fantasia on The Tempest

A violent distraction

Fourth competition at the Conservatoire

Distribution of prizes at the Conservatoire

My second concert

Marseilles to Leghorn

The scholars of the Academy

Drama

The theatres at Genoa and Florence

Life at the Academy

Sport in the mountains

Subiaco

Life of a musician in Rome

The spleen

Naples

Influenza in Rome

Florence

The Censorship

Benefit and concert at the Th̩̗tre Italien

An order for a requiem

Performance of my Lacrymosa at Lille

Mdlle. Bertin's Esmeralda

Concert of December 16, 1838

Order from M. de Rémusat to write the Symphonie Funÿbre et Triomphale

Brussels

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.