{"id":37108,"date":"2023-12-20T16:15:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T15:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/11c5972a-a1b2-45ff-990a-f0128dfa3eb8"},"modified":"2023-12-20T20:39:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T19:39:59","slug":"berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlioz: a revolutionary Romantic with deep Classical roots"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By BBC Music Magazine\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 20 December 2023 at 15:15 PM<\/p>

\n\n

The process by which Hector Berlioz\u2019s image changed from that of a maverick on the margin of musical history to that of a great composer had various causes \u2013 but one crucial event. Historically, there were many reasons why he should have been misjudged.<\/p>

Who was Berlioz?<\/h2>
He was a 19th-century composer whose lucid, linearly conceived orchestral music was impervious to the influence of that dominant 19th-century instrument, the piano and its all-important sustaining pedal.<\/p>
An heir of Beethoven<\/a><\/strong> who wrote symphonies outside the Austro-German symphonic tradition, Berlioz treated harmony expressively rather than functionally. His style, against the current of the age, was based on extended melody and rhythmic irregularity. He was a revolutionary Romantic<\/strong><\/a> who had deep Classical roots and a passion for Gluck<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>
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Such characteristics, along with the often formidable technical difficulty of his music, formed serious barriers to understanding him.<\/p>
When was Berlioz born?<\/h2>
Hector Berlioz was born on 11 December 1803. He was\u00a0the eldest child of Louis Berlioz (1776\u20131848), a physician, and his wife, Marie-Antoinette Jos\u00e9phine (1784\u20131838).<\/p>
Berlioz was born in\u00a0La C\u00f4te-Saint-Andr\u00e9, Is\u00e8re, south-eastern France, not far from Grenoble.<\/p>
What was Berlioz like?<\/h2>
Berlioz remained for a long time, for most people, disconcertingly strange, outlandish. It was easier to pigeonhole him as a writer who dabbled in composition, author of brilliant criticism and of an amusing if also disconcerting autobiography \u2013 that odd mixture of wild enthusiasm and caustic irony which is the Berlioz Memoirs<\/em>.<\/p>
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As a composer, Berlioz had to wait for a time when \u2018all epochs are potentially equal, all styles admissible, one thing is no longer judged by another, and the only laws a piece of music must be true to are its own\u2019. His music needed to become familiar. And it has done, thanks to much more frequent performance and the advent of the LP and CD. <\/p>
Five essential works by Berlioz<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
When was the Berlioz revival?<\/h3>
One crucial event was the production of Les Troyens<\/em> under Rafael Kubel\u00edk at Covent Garden in 1957. It was the first time that Berlioz\u2019s culminating masterpiece had been seen anywhere as he conceived it, performed with only minor cuts on a single evening.<\/p>
<\/div><\/figure>The effect was revelatory. As they had done 60 or 70 years before when they heard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-wagners-tristan-und-isolde\/\">Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, people paced the streets for hours afterwards. Many had come to hear the young Canadian tenor Jon Vickers rather than the piece he was appearing in. However, they soon found that they were hearing a work of a power and intensity. One that required the history books to be rewritten.<\/p>What made it all the more striking was that until then Les Troyens<\/em> had been regarded as an operatic white elephant, the work of an ailing, disillusioned artist who had done his best work years before, in the 1830s and 1840s \u2013 the decades of the Symphonie fantastique<\/em>, the Requiem and La damnation de Faust<\/em>. Few people were prepared for a score of such energy.<\/p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/love-story-behind-berliozs-symphonie-fantastique\">\u2022 The love story behind Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p><h3 id=\"h-which-early-conductors-performed-berlioz\">Which early conductors performed Berlioz?<\/h3>The result was a re-evaluation of Berlioz\u2019s whole output. He had always had his admirers, not least in this country where his visits to London between 1847 and 1855 had left a legacy of interest and enthusiasm.<\/p>His music had been kept alive here by conductors with a good understanding of it (and it is conductors that composers depend on for survival). Berlioz\u2019s friend Charles Hall\u00e9, founder of the Manchester orchestra that bears his name, brought many of the works into his repertoire.<\/p>After him came Hans Richter, who was active in London in the 1890s and early 1900s. After Richter there was Hamilton Harty and there was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/thomas-beecham\/\">Beecham<\/a><\/strong>. Yet it was still an uphill struggle until the Covent Garden Les Troyens <\/em>generated a Berlioz revival.<\/p><h2 id=\"h-best-berlioz-conductors\">Best Berlioz conductors<\/h2>Following Les Troyens<\/em>, musicians in various fields took Berlioz up, including Hugh Macdonald, Nicholas Snowman, Julian Rushton and, not least, Colin Davis. Macdonald, Snowman and Rushton all took part in concert performances of Les Troyens <\/em>given at Oxford and Cambridge under Davis in the early 1960s by the Chelsea Opera Group, the body founded in 1950 by Stephen Gray and me.<\/p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/review\/berlioz-14\">\u2022 Colin Davis conducts Les Troyens<\/strong><\/a><\/p>It would not be long before even the Parisians would seem to be having second thoughts about the composer they cold-shouldered for so long, and leading conductors would embrace his music: not only Colin Davis, but also Roger Norrington, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-is-sir-john-eliot-gardiner\/\">John Eliot Gardiner<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/rattles-best-recordings\/\">Simon Rattle<\/strong><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/valery-gergiev-dropped-by-festivals-concert-halls-and-management-due-to-his-ties-with-putin\/\">Valery Gergiev<\/strong><\/a>, to name a few.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe title=\"Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (Davis \/ Royal Concertgebouw)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hs-A7-h0wMM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure>Yet the sheer diversity of Berlioz\u2019s oeuvre makes him particularly hard to classify. Each score inhabits its own imaginative world with its own colour and atmosphere, ranging from the chamber-music scoring of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-berliozs-lenfance-du-christ\/\">L\u2019enfance du Christ<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, to the Requiem, with its multiple brass and timpani.<\/p>In the \u2018opera semi-seria\u2019, Benvenuto Cellini<\/em>, Berlioz re-creates Renaissance Italy, and in the massive Te Deum of 1849, we encounter the apocalyptic \u2018judex crederis\u2019.<\/p><h2 id=\"h-what-is-berlioz-s-music-like\">What is Berlioz’s music like?<\/h2>So what is the typical Berlioz work? Is it the concert opera La damnation de Faust,<\/em> so vibrant with life yet at heart desolate? Or the intimate song cycle Les nuits d\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9<\/em>, at once Classical and profoundly Romantic? Is it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/romeo-and-juliet-muic\/\">Rom\u00e9o et Juliette<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, whose orchestral love scene was Berlioz\u2019s own favourite among his compositions? Or his most often played work, the Symphonie fantastique<\/em>?<\/p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/six-best-musical-settings-shakespeares-romeo-and-juliet\">\u2022 Six of the best\u2026 musical settings of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>Each of these works is typical of Berlioz, but in its separate, unrepeatable way. Each takes a new direction and a new shape. One of the many lessons that Berlioz learned from studying Beethoven\u2019s symphonies was that form is not something fixed and laid down in advance, but created afresh each time, according to the poetic content of the particular work.<\/p>The endless variety of Berlioz\u2019s formal designs is one reason why his music may be difficult to grasp when we first encounter it and why it has fallen foul of the more literal-minded critics. A further reason is the length of many of his melodies. The motto theme of the Symphonie fantastique<\/em>, for example, runs to 30 bars.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe title=\"Berlioz : Symphonie Fantastique (Philharmonique de Radio France \/ Myung-Whun Chung)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5HgqPpjIH5c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure>We have to know his tunes before we can follow them. Melody is the key to Berlioz. Find it, and we unlock the door to a land of unimagined beauty and unending fascination.<\/p><h2 id=\"h-when-did-berlioz-die\">When did Berlioz die?<\/h2>The composer died at his house in the Rue de Calais, Paris, on 8\u00a0March 1869. He was 65.\u00a0<\/p><h2 id=\"h-where-is-berlioz-s-grave\">Where is Berlioz’s grave?<\/h2>Berlioz was buried in Montmartre Cemetery with his two wives, who were\u00a0exhumed\u00a0and re-buried next to him<\/p>We named Berlioz one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/best-french-composers-ever\/\">best French composers ever<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>David Cairns<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By BBC Music Magazine Published: Wednesday, 20 December 2023 at 15:15 PM The process by which Hector Berlioz\u2019s image changed from that of a maverick on the margin of musical history to that of a great composer had various causes \u2013 but one crucial event. Historically, there were many reasons why he should have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":37109,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/12\/berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots.jpg",200,200,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/12\/berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/12\/berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots.jpg",200,200,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/12\/berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots.jpg",200,200,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/12\/berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots.jpg",200,200,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/12\/berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots.jpg",200,200,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/12\/berlioz-a-revolutionary-romantic-with-deep-classical-roots.jpg",200,200,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By BBC Music Magazine Published: Wednesday, 20 December 2023 at 15:15 PM The process by which Hector Berlioz\u2019s image changed from that of a maverick on the margin of musical history to that of a great composer had various causes \u2013 but one crucial event. Historically, there were many reasons why he should have been…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/37108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}