Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869) - photo 1

Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz, full name Louis-Hector Berlioz, was a French composer, conductor, and music critic of the Romantic era.

Berlioz received his primary education from his father, an enlightened physician, who gave him his first lessons in music and Latin. By the age of 12, he was already composing music for local chamber ensembles and learning to play the guitar and flute with virtuosity. In 1821 his father sent him to Paris to study medicine, and he received his first scientific degree. But in parallel, he often visited the Paris Opera, where he studied the entire repertoire on the score.

Against the will of his parents, Berlioz took a compulsory course of study at the Conservatory of Paris and in 1830 received the Prix de Rome. In Italy he met the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka and became lifelong friends with Mendelssohn. From 1832 Berlioz worked for 30 years as a music critic for periodicals. He was acquainted with many of the leading writers and musicians of his time, including Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Niccolò Paganini, and George Sand.

Berlioz adored the works of Weber and Beethoven, as well as Gluck, and tirelessly introduced audiences to their works. As a result of his many trips as a conductor to Germany, Belgium, England, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, he taught the leading orchestras of Europe a new style.

Berlioz during these years wrote, among other things, the "Symphonie Fantastique" (1830) that made him famous, and the symphony "Harold in Italy" (1834). After a concert in 1838, where he conducted their performance, the famous violin virtuoso Paganini declared Hector Berlioz a continuator of Beethoven's musical traditions and presented him with 20,000 francs. A grateful Berlioz wrote a choral symphony, Romeo and Juliet, dedicated to Paganini.

In 1844, Berlioz created "Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration", which is not just a technical manual, it served as an introduction to the aesthetics of expression in music for generations to come. Among Berlioz's dramatic works, The Damnation of Faust (1846) and The Nativity (1854) are world-famous.

Date and place of birt:11 december 1803, La Côte-Saint-André, France
Date and place of death:8 march 1869, Paris, France
Period of activity: XIX century
Specialization:Composer, Critic, Writer
Art style:Romanticism

Creators Romanticism

Friedrich Gunkel (1819 - 1876)
Friedrich Gunkel
1819 - 1876
Patrick Branwell Brontë (1817 - 1848)
Patrick Branwell Brontë
1817 - 1848
Gustav Lange (1811 - 1887)
Gustav Lange
1811 - 1887
John Quidor (1801 - 1881)
John Quidor
1801 - 1881
Luigi Zuccoli (1815 - 1876)
Luigi Zuccoli
1815 - 1876
Salvatore Tonci (1756 - 1844)
Salvatore Tonci
1756 - 1844
John Warwick Smith (1749 - 1831)
John Warwick Smith
1749 - 1831
George Scharf (1820 - 1895)
George Scharf
1820 - 1895
Eduard Stiegel (1818 - 1879)
Eduard Stiegel
1818 - 1879
William Pearson (1772 - 1849)
William Pearson
1772 - 1849
Walter Dendy Sadler (1854 - 1923)
Walter Dendy Sadler
1854 - 1923
Paul Cézanne (1839 - 1906)
Paul Cézanne
1839 - 1906
Johann Heinrich Luttringshausen (1783 - 1857)
Johann Heinrich Luttringshausen
1783 - 1857
William Joseph Shayer (1811 - 1892)
William Joseph Shayer
1811 - 1892
Franz Xaver Simm (1853 - 1918)
Franz Xaver Simm
1853 - 1918
Georg Wilhelm Timm (1820 - 1895)
Georg Wilhelm Timm
1820 - 1895
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