THE BERLIOZ SOCIETY

-- Who we are -- The Berlioz Society - a non-profit-making organisation of persons with an interest in and a love of the music of the great French Composer Hector Berlioz (1803 -1869) - is a registered Charity. Chaired by David Cairns, author of the definitive two-volume life of Berlioz, the Society has an international membership including the world-renowned Berlioz conductor Sir Colin Davis and Professor Hugh Macdonald, editor of the New Berlioz Edition. -- What we do -- The Society's aim is to increase the public's awareness of the life and works of Berlioz, this great composer, especially the lesser known works. To this end the Society organises meetings, weekends, conferences and publications, and other events. -------ooooooo0000000ooooooo------- ---About Berlioz--- The author Victor Hugo, the painter Eugène Delacroix and the composer Hector Berlioz were the troika of the French Romantic Movement of the 19th century. Heavily influenced by Gluck, Weber and Beethoven, Berlioz (1803-69) spearheaded the romantic movement in music, writing some of the first programme music, introducing choirs, vocal soloists, the harp and the saxophone - the invention of his Belgian friend Adolphe Sax - permanently into the symphony orchestra, experimenting with "stereo" and offstage acoustical effects, inventing the 'idée fixe' - a recurring short melodic strain signifying a person or obsession - forerunner of Wagner's 'leitmotiv' - and creating the modern orchestra. A great conductor, orchestrator, journalist, music critic and writer, Berlioz only played the guitar and the flute, the orchestra being his instrument. He composed about 150 works, notably four symphonies, three operas, a requiem and two masses as well as song cycles, cantatas, concert overtures, Hungary's national anthem and a rumbustious reworking of France's "Marseillaise". His best known work is the autobiographical Symphonie fantastique (1830) - in which the 'idée fixe' - representing the composer's passion for the Irish Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson - plays a major role. After years of being considered an eccentric outsider in classical music, Berlioz is now recognised as a true original and one of the greatest innovators ever. Even his detractors have always had to concede his supremacy as an orchestrator, but now, with all his large scale works available on recordings, his great melodic gifts and unique compositional imagination are in the public arena for all to appreciate. In addition, his writings display the warmth and wit of his personality and his immense critical intelligence, showing him to be one of the most engaging of the great composers. The influence of Berlioz on later composers can hardly be exaggerated. To cite but one example, in his "Portrait of Elgar", second edition (1982) p. 218, Michael Kennedy says of the Canto popolare episode in the concert overture 'In the South - Alassio' "This haunting melody, original and so Elgarian, but Italian in spirit, is given to the solo viola as a salute to Berlioz from ‘Edward in Italy’." "Which of these two powers, love or music, can elevate man to the sublimest heights? Why separate them? They are the two wings of the soul." Hector Berlioz 1803–1869

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    This month's Did you know?

Berlioz was a great traveller and had more
success abroad than in France during his lifetime.
His visits to Russia were rewarding if arduous,
given his always precarious health -  for his
first visit there in 1847 Berlioz borrowed
Balzac’s overcoat to keep him warm!

 


A selection of performances, past and future

Berlioz: Les Nuits d' été; Saturday October 24th 2009.

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Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini Overture;  Saturday 14 November 2009.
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The 2007 Salzburg production of Benvenuto Cellini (film). Monday November 23rd 2009.

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Berlioz: Harold in Italy Saturday; November 28th 2009.
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Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Wednesday February 24th, 2010.
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Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict, Opera Comique, Paris February 12-March 6 2010
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Berlioz: Les Troyens; Amsterdam in April and May, 2010
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Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Thursday June 10, 2010.
For full details of all these and other performances of works by Berlioz,  CLICK HERE

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Seventh Annual Berlioz Weekend
Interpreting Berlioz
November 28th and 29th 2009
The Art Workers Guild Hall
6 Queen Square London WC1N 3AT

The Berlioz Society's principal annual London event "The Berlioz Weekend" focussed this year on the topic of
Interpreting Berlioz – with talks by eminent conductors, choirmasters, soloists, orchestral players, professors
of music and music critics, headed by Sir Colin Davis CH, CBE, who is also the Society’s Patron; Dame Janet Baker CH, DBE, FRSA;
and David Cairns, the Society’s Chairman and international authority on the composer. Other key participants
included Geoffrey Jubault, from the University of Nancy; conductor Adrian Brown, Berlioz scholar and pupil of Sir Adrian Boult;
David Alberman, Principal Second Violin of the London Symphony Orchestra; Alan Woodbridge, Chef des Choeurs at the Opera de Lyon;
David Charlton, Emeritus Professor of Music, Royal Holloway College;
Terry Barfoot, educator in music and publications consultant to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra;
and Melinda O'Neal, Professor of Music at Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire USA).
A live Masterclass on singing Berlioz was given by a student of the National Opera Studio, led by its Director, the
distinguished soprano Kathryn Harries. At the dinner on the Saturday evening at the nearby Grange White Hall Hotel, the
Principal Guest and Speaker was Michael Kennedy, the celebrated music critic.
To see pictures and details of this event   CLICK HERE

For further information regarding the Society Weekend please contact Society Administrator  
Harold Hughes, email: hwdh@msn.com. 

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In addition, the Society planned a visit to the annual Festival Berlioz at La Cote St. Andre
Berlioz's birthplace in south-eastern France) from August 24-31.  Special tickets for
Berlioz Society Members were offered by the Festival organisers and these were all taken up.
 

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 AGM
The Annual General Meeting of the Society took place in the Gradidge Room at the Art Workers Guild,
6 Queen Square, London WC1 on Thursday September 17 at 7pm. After the meeting there was a screening
of Christian-Jaque’s 1942 film “La Symphonie fantastique” with the legendary French
actor Jean-Louis Barrault in the role of Berlioz  (B/W - 90 mins)
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 On Sunday May 10 at a venue in London SW6 there was a presentation on the Chelsea Opera Group
- A Berlioz Pioneer - Excerpts from Archive Recordings in the period 
1958-81 - Presented by Brian Godfrey.
 
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Berlioz's Paris - Walking Tour - Late Summer 2010
The Society plans to organise a three-day/two-night stay in Paris in the late summer (last week of August or thereabouts)
to visit sites in the city associated with Berlioz. The walking tour would cover a selection of  Berlioz
residences largely in the Ninth Arrondissement, including 4 rue de Calais (4^th floor) where the composer lived
from 1856-69, nearby Square Berlioz (with statue), the Café Richelieu, a regular haunt of Berlioz (still in operation); the
old Paris Conservatoire concert hall where the Symphonie fantastique was premiered, the British Embassy in whose
elegant dining room Berlioz and actress Harriet Smithson were married in 1833 with Liszt as witness and Montmartre Cemetery
(burial place of Berlioz). A full programme will be announced soon;
for further information, contact Christopher Follett on fol.2001@gmail.com

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LSO APPEAL - SIR COLIN'S CHALLENGE

Congratulations to Sir Colin Davis, the Berlioz Society's Patron & President of the London Symphony Orchestra;
peerless champions of Berlioz's music down the last 50 years. 2009 marks Sir Colin Davis's 50th anniversary with
the LSO. To celebrate this milestone, Sir Colin has made a generous gift to the Orchestra and is now challenging
audiences and supporters to raise £1million for the LSO Endowment Trust. As a token of our appreciation of his
magnificent performances of Berlioz, which have done so much to raise the profile of the composer in recent decades,
the Society would like to support the LSO Appeal and ask Members to consider making a donation. 'I have been very
privileged to share 50 years of extraordinary music-making with the LSO. It is my personal commitment to ensure that
this Orchestra continues to work on its task of making the best music available to everyone. Please join me in my
challenge and help secure the future of the LSO' - Sir Colin Davis.
The LSO needs to raise long-term funds to push the boundaries of its work and building the LSO Endowment Trust is
critical to ensure that the Orchestra can continue to grow and develop for years to come.

For more information:    Click here.


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This month's audio clip from a work by Berlioz is from a London Symphony Orchestra CD - from La Damnation de Faust
To hear it 
Click here (note, there will be a delay while downloading the file)  

To view details of this month's clip, CLICK HERE

                       

(Last month's clip was from Benvenuto Cellini)
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New Members' Special offer

- for a limited period!
Annual membership of the Society costs £15.00 and new members of the Society will receive a free copy of a 32-page illustrated
monograph by Dr Philip Mansel on Paris in the Age of Berlioz, published by the Society in November 2006.
If you wish to join the Society, or obtain more information, please contact us as below.
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If you have any QUESTIONS about Berlioz, contact our Questions and Comments line.
We'll try to find an answer to any question about Berlioz's life and works.
If you have an INTERESTING ITEM about Berlioz, the man, his life, his music etc., contact our Questions and Comments line,
and it may appear here, with an attribution "our thanks to (your name) of (town) for this item."



  
    

    
Berlioz and his orchestra,
caricature by Grandville, 1846 Berlioz c. 1831 - 2: a copy
of a drawing by Horace Vernet

    

    
Berlioz, detail of a woodcut
by Gillot after Grevin 
Berlioz, drawing by Grevin

    

    
Berlioz's son Louis
who pre-deceased him (1834-67) 
Berlioz;
the last portrait - 1868

  
    
      To contact the Society, email to sqing@btinternet.com-------ooooooo0000000ooooooo-------
       
Berlioz Society Officers

        
		Chairman and  Bulletin Editor: David Cairns CBE 
	Hon. Secretary: Simon Jones 

       
    
 (including all membership matters)  

    
	Hon. Treasurer: 
	Alastair Aberdare 
Administrator: Dr. Harold Hughes OBE 

       
       

Media Relations: Christopher Follett 
Webmaster: Dave May

           

    
	Committee Members: Brian Godfrey,  Martin Price 
   

      


	
Last updates:  20th October,   4th, 10th, 16th  November,  2nd, 15th, 29th December 2009, 19th January, 2nd February 2010

This website prepared and maintained by Ian Hickman Partners (Eur. Ing. D.I. H. May BSc.Hons, C.Eng, MIEE, MIEEE, and D. M. May B.A.Hons, A.C.I.L.)  www.ianhickman.org.uk


  
    
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Berlioz and his orchestra, caricature by Grandville, 1846	Berlioz c. 1831 - 2: a copy of a drawing by Horace Vernet

Berlioz, detail of a woodcut by Gillot after Grevin	Berlioz, drawing by Grevin

Berlioz's son Louis who pre-deceased him (1834-67)	Berlioz; the last portrait - 1868

Chairman and Bulletin Editor:	David Cairns CBE	Hon. Secretary:	Simon Jones
		(including all membership matters)
Hon. Treasurer:	Alastair Aberdare	Administrator:	Dr. Harold Hughes OBE

Media Relations:	Christopher Follett	Webmaster:	Dave May

Committee Members:	Brian Godfrey, Martin Price