BERLIOZ, Hector
b La-Côté-St-André, near Grenoble, 11 December 1803
d Paris, 8 March 1869, aged sixty five

He was the son of a doctor. He was taught piano locally, but preferred guitar and flute, which he mastered. In 1821 he went to Paris to study medicine, but disliked it and went instead to the Paris Conservatory. In 1830 he won the Grand Prix de Rome, after five attempts. In 1835, because of financial difficulties, he became a critic, and remained so for twenty-five years. In the 1840s he travelled widely, conducting his own music. In 1844 he wrote a treatise on instrumentation and orchestration. His music was always neglected in his native France; and in his last years, when his health was poor, he lived the life of a solitary eccentric.
1827 (24)
Waverley, overture
Les francs-juges, overture
La Mort d'Orphée, cantata
1828 (25)
Herminie, cantata
1829 (26)
Cleopatra, cantata
Huit scenes de Faust, cantata
Irlande, five songs with piano (1829-30)
183n (27)
Symphonie fantastique (revised 1831)
Sardanapale, cantata
1831 (28)
Le Corsaire, overture (revised 1855)
King Lear, overture
1832 (29)
Le Cinq Mai, cantata (1830-2)
1834 (31)
Harold in Italy, symphony with solo viola
Sara la baigneuse, for three choirs, with orchestra
Les nuits d'ete, song cycle for soprano and orchestra
1837 (34)
Grande messe des morts, requiem
1838 (35)
Benvenuto Cellini, opera (1834-8)
Romeo et Juliette, dramatic symphony for solo voices and chorus (1838-9)
1839 (36)
Reverie et Caprice, for violin and orchestra
1840 (37)
Symphonie funebre et triomphale, for chorus, strings and military band
1844 (41)
Roman Carnival, overture (from material from Benvenuto Cellini)
1846 (43)
The Damnation of Faust, dramatic cantata (in which occurs Berlioz'sarrangement of the Rakoczy March)
1848 (45)
La Mort d'Ophélie, for two-part female chorus (also for voice and piano)
1854 (51)
L'Enfance du Christ, oratorio (185(}4)
1856-9 (53-6)
The Trojans, opera (Part Il produced 1863; Part I produced 1890)
1862 (59)
Béatrice et Benedict, opera (1860-2)