Hector Berlioz
Romantic · 1803–1869
Hector Berlioz was supposed to become a doctor. Born in 1803 in La Côte-Saint-André, a town in southeastern France, he was sent to Paris to study medicine, hated the dissecting room, and defected to the Conservatoire. Since his music was too unconventional to pay the bills, he spent decades earning his living as a music critic, writing some of the sharpest prose any composer has left us.
He thought in orchestral color on a huge scale, and he wrote a story into his music more openly than anyone before him. The Symphonie fantastique of 1830 narrates an artist's opium-fueled obsession with an unreachable woman, inspired by his own fixation on the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whom he later actually married. It did not end well; the symphony did.
Start with the Symphonie fantastique, ideally in one sitting with the program notes nearby. Then try Harold en Italie, his symphony with a wandering solo viola as its hero.
60 works in the catalog, across 3 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Orchestral
- Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, op. 15
- Harold en Italie, H.68, op. 16
- Roméo et Juliette, for alto, tenor, bass, chorus and orchestra, H.79, op. 17
- Symphonie fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'une artiste, op. 14
- Dance of the Spirits
- Grande ouverture des Francs-Juges, H.23d
- Le carnaval romain, op. 9
- Le corsaire, op. 21
- Le roi Lear, H.53, op. 4
- Marche de Rákóczy, H.109
- Rob Roy Overture, H.54
- Rêverie et caprice, for violin and orchestra, H.88, op. 8
- Waverly, H.26, op. 1
Stage
- Les Troyens Opera
- Benvenuto Cellini Opera
- Béatrice et Bénédict Opera
- Les Francs-Juges Opera
Vocal
- L' Enfance du Christ, op. 25, H.130
- La Damnation de Faust, op. 24
- Requiem, H.75, op. 5
- Te Deum, H.118, op. 22
- 8 Scénes de Faust, for solo voices, chorus, orchestra and guitar, H.33, op. 1
- 9 Mélodies irlandaises, for soloist, chorus and piano, op. 2
- Adieu, Bessy, H.46a, op. 2, no. 8
- Amitié, reprends ton empire, for 2 sopranos, baritone and piano, H.10b
- Canon libre à la quinte, song for 2 voices and piano, H.14
- Chansonette de M. Léon de Wailly, H.73
- Elégie en prose, H.47, op. 2, no. 9
- Fleurs des landes, op. 13
- Herminie, for soprano and orchestra, H.29
- Hymne à la France, for chorus and orchestra, H.97, op. 20, no. 2
- Je crois en vous, H.70
- L'Impériale, for chorus and orchestra, op. 26
- La Belle voyageuse, H.42a, op. 2, no. 4
- La Captive, H.60, op. 12
- La Mort d'Ophélie, for soprano or tenor, H.92a, op. 18, no. 2
- La Mort d'Orphée, for tenor, women's chorus, and orchestra, H.25, "monologue et bacchanale"
- La Mort de Cléopâtre, for soprano and orchestra, H.36
- Le Ballet des ombres, for chorus and piano, H.37, op. 2
- Le Chasseur danois, H.104
- Le Jeune Pâtre breton, for voice and piano and horn ad lib, H.65, op. 13, no. 4
- Le Maure jaloux, H.9
- Le Menace des francs, for 2 tenors, 2 basses, 6-part chorus and orchestra, H. 117. Op.20, no. 1
- Le Montagnard exilé, for 2 sopranos and piano, H.15
- Les Champs, H.67, op. 19, no. 2
- Les Nuits d'été, H.81, op. 7, for voice and piano
- Le Temple universel, for double chorus and organ or unaccompanied male chorus, H.137
- Lélio, ou Le retour à la vie, H.55, op. 14bis
- Marche funèbre pour la dernière scène d'Hamlet, for chorus, and orchestra, H.103
- Messe solennelle
- Pleure, pauvre Colette, for 2 voices and piano, H.11
- Prière du matin, H.112
- Quartetto e coro dei maggi, for chorus and orchestra
- Resurrexit II, H.20b
- Sara la baigneuse, for 2 voices and piano, H.69, op. 11
- Tantum ergo, for 2 sopranos, alto, female chorus and organ, H.142
- Tous qui l'aimas, verse des pleurs, song for tenor and piano, H.16
- Tristia, H.119, op. 18
- Veni Creator, motet for 3 voices and chorus, H.141
- Zaïde, boléro, for voice, castanets and piano, H.107, op. 19, no. 1
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