-- 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.
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--- 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
Nevertheless, he did have his critics:-
"He makes me really sad, because he is actually a cultured, agreeable man and yet he composes so incredibly badly."
Felix Mendelssohn in a letter to his family in 1831, after meeting Berlioz in Rome. However, he did recollect that he found Berlioz:-
" - - that quiet, friendly, thoughtful person, going his way calmly and confidently . . . deaf to any outside criticism
in his determination to follow only his inner inspiration."
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NOTICES
MEMBERS' WEEKEND 2012
The Tenth Annual Berlioz Society Weekend
November 3rd and 4th 2012
The ARTWORKERS GUILD HALL
6 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AT
For full details CLICK HERE
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BERLIOZ AT THE PROMS 2012
The BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London will this summer include two performances of major Berlioz works.
More details, booking information at http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms. Booking opens on Saturday May 12 at 9am.
Prom 11, Sunday July 22 at 4.30pm : The Trojans (255 mins) Concert performance of new Covent Garden Production
with Jonas Kaufmann tenor (Aeneas), Anna Caterina Antonacci soprano (Cassandra), Eva Maria Westbroek soprano (Dido),
Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Sir Antonio Pappano conductor. Seats £13-£55.
Prom 39, Saturday August 11 at 7.30pm : Requiem (Grande messe des morts) (83 mins) Toby Spence tenor,
BBC National Chorus of Wales, Huddersfield Choral Society, London Symphony Chorus, BBC National Orchestra of Wales,
Thierry Fischer conductor. Seats £7.50-£36
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Festival Berlioz 2012 - La Côte Saint-André (LCSA)
The annual festival takes place in Berlioz's birthplace near Grenoble in the Isère from August 22-September 2.
Entitled "Berlioz et l'Italie - Un Carnaval Romain", the highlights this year include the Symphonie fantastique (Jean-Claude Casadesus,
Symphonie funèbre et triomphale (Banda Nazionale dell' Esercito, Rome), La mort de Cléopâtre (Anna-Caterine Antonacci),
Harold en Italie (Renaud Capuçon), Roméo et Juliette (François-Xavier Roth) and the Grande Messe des Morts
(Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin with Washington Choir, Philharmonia Chorus, Choeurs de Lyon).
Information sheet on how to get to LCSA, where to stay, concert booking etc available from Christopher Follett fol.2001@gmail.com,
otherwise see festival website www.festivalberlioz.com.
For full programme CLICK HERE
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Les Troyens at Covent Garden 2012
Study Day
For full details of this important event, arranged by The Berlioz Society
in conjunction with the Royal Opera House, CLICK HERE
Please note: there are 20 tickets available for members of the Berlioz Society at the half-price rate of £10.
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The Festival Berlioz, 2011
The annual Festival Berlioz, based in HB's native village of La Côte-Saint-André in the Isère département near Grenoble
took place last year from August 18 - 28 on the theme of "Berlioz, Liszt & The Devil" with 50 concerts, lectures and events,
involving 1,200 musicians, scheduled. The Society organised a visit to the festival.
The Musée Hector Berlioz at the composer's birthplace in La Côte-Saint-André in southeast France staged a special exhibition
entitled "Fantin-Latour - Painter & Lithographer - Homage to Berlioz" from end-June to end-December 2011.
See www.musee-hector-berlioz.fr Pictures of the Festival
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New Members' Special offer - for a limited period!
Annual membership of the Society costs £20.00 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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Berlioz was the target of caricaturists - probably more than any other composer. To see a selection of these, CLICK HERE
He has also inspired many portraits, including one by Haydn Greenaway, to view, CLICK HERE |
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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."
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J.M.W. Turner: Childe Harold's Pilrimage - Italy (1832) - after Byron's poem of the same name
- which was also the inspiration for Berlioz's "Harold in Italy", for viola and orchestra. |
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HOW TO JOIN THE BERLIOZ SOCIETY:-
Contact the Membership Secretary at sqing@btinternet.com
for this and all other enquiries. |
| Berlioz Society Officers | |
| Chairman and Bulletin Editor: David Cairns CBE | Hon. Secretary: Simon Jones (including all membership matters) |
| Hon. Treasurer: Alastair Aberdare | Coordinator: Dr. Harold Hughes |
| Media Relations: Christopher Follett | Webmaster: Dave May |
| Member Liaison: Martin Price | Concessionary Ticket Offers: Helen Petchey |
| Committee Members: Brian Godfrey, Sir Adam Ridley | Society Weekends: ShelaghMarston |
Last updated: 20th April 2012
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
