Berlioz undertook many journeys, not only to promote his music, but also to spread the ideas and approaches he had brought together about 
composition and performance of music in general. He must have shown considerable tenacity and determination to pursue these visits to so 
many European cities, including in Russia, in many cases several times, given the primitive, highly uncomfortable, and uncertain nature
of long-distance transport of that time, coupled with the serious problems he often encountered in finding musicians capable of giving 
adequate performance of his new and testing works. It is surely not possible to believe that one understands Berlioz, either as a character 
or as a musician/ composer, without good knowledge of what he attempted and achieved during these visits, which occupied a great deal of his
time and energies in the second part of his life - and from which experiences he drew new inspiration. For example, he wrote La Damnation 
de Faust largely during his visits to Germany. For these reasons it seemed right in 2007 to step aside from consideration of a particular
work, to bring together what we know of his travels. All our speakers had been asked to illustrate their talks generously with CD excerpts 
of Berlioz’s music appropriate to the visits under discussion. So we were able to immerse ourselves in his music without over-concentrating 
on particular pieces.
  The result was a fascinating weekend graced by a remarkable, highly expert, group of speakers to lead us through the story of these visits.
In addition to the presentations from the various speakers, held in the dignified surroundings of the Art Workers' Guild in Queen Square 
(www.artworkersguild.org), on the Saturday afternoon in the nearby church of St George’s Holborn, our widely admired Chairman, David Cairns, 
conducted a choir (which he had specially formed), in a number of Berlioz’s works for choir and keyboard, together with choral items from 
the pitifully sparse remaining original music of Berlioz’s very early opera LesFrancs-Juges. This special event was made even more 
special by the inclusion of a complete performance, with piano, of Les nuits d’été,sung by Serena Kay. Serena is a remarkable young 
mezzo-soprano,  now launched on her professional career.  Volume Four of the New Berlioz Edition says that the first performance of the music
from Les Francs-Juges was in fact given by The Berlioz Society at a concert in 1964.Nothing now remains of this concert, save for 
the piano score reduction which was prepared by Hugh Macdonald. This time the concert was professionally recorded for the Society’s archives, 
and will be available on CD.  We offer sincere thanks to those Members who agreed to help sponsor this recording.



                                                                     ---00000---

 My First Berlioz Society Weekend, December, 2007  A Personal Account by Mary Weber

It had been quite a trip from warm and sunny San Diego, but on a bright but crisp Saturday 
morning in early December, I found myself in London's Queen Square looking up at a statue 
which rather inexplicably was identified not as Queen Anne, (the older name of the Square 
was Queen Anne's Square) but Queen Charlotte, whose statue seems to have been placed there 
merely in error.  I photographed the lovely imposter, smiled, and turned to make my way 
into one of a long row of tall brick townhouses lining the square, home to the Art Workers'
Guild.  The annual Berlioz Society Members' Weekend was about to inaugurate its new venue 
in a 1914-vintage hall whose high walls were positively burgeoning with portraits of past 
guild masters. (I was reminded of Berlioz spending his sabbatical at the Villa Medici in 
Rome in the company of his fellow Prix de Rome winners––painters, sculptors, printers,
and architects, whose portraits past and present lined the walls.)
Inside, warmth, coffee, nametags, and friendly greetings welcomed arrivals. Dr. Harold 
Hughes, the expert organizer of this event, graciously ushered us into the hall for the 
10 am commencement of this year's program, "Berlioz the Traveller".  I was about to 
discover whether this weekend would justify the long journey to feed my fascination with 
Hector Berlioz! 

Professor Hugh Macdonald, general editor of The New Berlioz Edition (26 volumes, Bärenreiter, 
1967-2006), editor of the final five volumes of the Correspondence générale (Flammarion, 
1972-2003) and of Selected Letters of Berlioz (W. W. Norton & Company, 1995) and 
authenticator of Berlioz's Messe solennelle, miraculously rediscovered in 1991, gave the 
keynote address, "Berlioz Takes the Train."  He began by reviewing the fact that 
Berlioz began the travel phase of his musical career without benefit of the train and actually 
found privacy and time for thought and composition in the enforced leisure of travel by ship, 
post chaise and sledge.  From the 1830's on, once train travel became all the rage and he 
jumped aboard, he was frequently assailed by fellow passengers who begged favors of him in his 
role as influential music critic.  Berlioz's career as composer, conductor, and critic matured 
right alongside train travel.  Evidence from his writing reveals that, while Berlioz was not
thrilled by the train (too slow), he did appreciate its convenience and used it whenever it
was available, praising how it cut his travel time, such as between Leipzig and Dresden, which
made it possible for him to arrange for a concert in one city and give another concert shortly 
thereafter in the other.  Even musical composition became involved with the railway when in 
1846 he was commissioned to write the music for the cantata Chant des chemins de fer for the 
dedication of the Paris-Lille line. (At this point we heard the cantata.) When in 1863 Berlioz 
spoke after crossing the Rhine via the new railway bridge at Kehl to attend a concert in his 
honor, his priorities remained clear: looking out over a crowd of French and German listeners, 
he observed that love of music had united them.  Such exalted love would do more to bring them 
together than the magnificent bridge over the Rhine and the railway travelling across it could
possibly do.

Berlioz Society Chairman and Bulletin Editor David Cairns, award-winning author of the 
monumental Berlioz, Vols. 1 and 2, followed coffee and biscuits with his presentation, 
"Berlioz's Travels in Italy", which focused on the lifelong influence on Berlioz's music of 
his fifteen Prix de Rome months in 1831 and 1832. Although sent to Rome to draw inspiration 
from its culture, Berlioz felt he'd fallen into a musical vacuum. "I am ill from lack of 
music", he wrote. Indeed he missed the Paris premières of Beethoven's Ninth and Meyerbeer's 
Robert le Diable.  He felt only contempt for the Italian opera
he heard. Inspiration failed Berlioz; during his time in Italy: he finished composing only 
the King Lear Overture (which was, however, inspired not by Italy but by the failure of his 
relationship with Camille Moke) and the Méditation religieuse.  Although he considered Italy 
a musical wasteland, Berlioz did find other outlets for his musical energy while there, such 
as singing Gluck arias to Mendelsohn's accompaniment and putting on impromptu opera sessions 
at the Villa Medici for "the small number of inmates whom I could stand." However, Berlioz 
found the aforementioned lifelong musical inspiration not in Italy's music, but in its 
topography and its people. He loved the earthiness of the folk music he heard in mountainside 
villages and during carnival celebrations and he relished the beauty of Italy's hills which 
he explored frequently.  Their echoes are in Harold, Cellini, Roméo et Juliette, Béatrice et 
Bénédict, and the starry night of Les Troyens. Cairns's conclusion: Berlioz's Italian 
experience was second only to his childhood in its influence on his music. The benefits of 
the Italian sojourn outweigh its deficits.  (David brought some wonderful music which he 
shared with us: including an aria from Iphigénie en Tauride and Didon, singing from 
Les Troyens.)

Following a delicious luncheon sandwich buffet topped off with a generous portion of hot 
soup, Jeremy Black, Professor of History at the University of Exeter, regaled us with tales 
of travel in Italy in the last century before train travel made transportation so much more 
comfortable and safe.  Based on his 2003 book, Italy and the Grand Tour, Professor Black's 
presentation provided details on who came as tourists to Italy, when they came, and where 
they generally visited.  His information is based on firsthand experiences of eighteenth 
century tourists as recorded in their letters and journals.  British reactions to Italian 
transport, accommodation, cooking, costs of commodities, and the hazards of travel to and 
through the country made for interesting listening.  Suffice it say that conditions for the 
tourist in Italy have improved greatly in the intervening centuries

After tea with biscuits and an interlude of questions and comments for the day's panel of 
presenters, members repaired to the impressive eighteenth century church of 
St. George-the-Martyr at Holborn, which was just a few doors away.  There we were treated
to a very special all-Berlioz concert.  After introducing each work, David Cairns conducted 
a twenty-one-member choir of his own organizing, accompanied by Lara Dodds-Eden on the piano 
and once by Dr. Martin Neary on the organ. The choir gave us eight Berlioz melodies, 
including the rarely heard "Choeur des Bergers" from Les Francs-juges, an early opera 
abandoned by the composer.  Following the interval, mezzo-soprano Serena Kay, accompanied 
again by the talented Lara Dodds-Eden, offered us her powerful interpretation of Les Nuits 
d'éte.

The long day of pleasurable listening culminated in a dinner feast of three courses with 
wine at the Grange Whitehall Hotel just blocks away.  Approximately fifty members and 
guests enjoyed making new acquaintances and spending time with longterm colleagues.  
Following dinner, the toast, and a welcome from David Cairns, Peter Bloom, Professor of 
Humanities at Smith College, Massachusetts, gave a delightful personal 100th-birthday 
tribute to his mentor Professor Jacques Barzun, Honorary President of the Berlioz Society 
for over fifty years. His address, "Frère Jacques", is reprinted in the December, 2007 
Berlioz Society Bulletin, No. 175.  He drew many a parallel between his subject and his 
subject's favorite subject–HB!  There were many funny little stories, with some of the 
players being present.  (Prof. Bloom's latest book is a collection of essays which he edited 
entitled Berlioz: Scenes from the Life and Work, to be published by the University of 
Rochester Press in March, 2008.  Many of the contributors attended the dinner.)  The evening 
ended in laughter, not only thanks to Professor Bloom, but to Dr. John Amis, (BBC radio and 
TV personality and author of Amiscellany, and My Music in London, 1945-2000) a veritable 
fountain of musical anecdotes under the title "Recollections of Music, Musicians, and 
Music-Making", which were invariably amusing.  If we went to our beds tired, we went to them
happy.  I am reminded of many post-concert late-night banquets at which Berlioz was the 
honored party.  He would have enjoyed being fêted at this one! ("Ah! Quelle nuit! Quel
festin! Bal divin! Que de folle Paroles!" R&J, iii) 

Sunday morning's walk to the Guild's Hall forcibly reminded me that I was a long way from 
California: a cold wind lashed rain against me and challenged my sturdy umbrella. I was 
happy to enter the warm and dry hall for the second day of what for me was a magical 
mystery tour of Berlioz's professional life abroad.

David Charlton, Professor Emeritus at Royal Holloway, University of London, gave a fascinating 
analysis of nineteen press reviews published in England within two weeks of Benvenuto Cellini's 
1853 London premiere.  (The complete texts of the reviews can be found in The Musical Voyager: 
Berlioz in Europe, which Professor Charlton edited with Katharine Ellis [Peter Lang AG, 2007]).
The Covent Garden premiere of this ill-fated opera was spoiled for Berlioz by demonstrators who 
hissed and whistled throughout the performance, and he withdrew the opera that same night. 
Detailed analysis of the reviews reveals a much more positive and balanced assessment of the 
opera and the performances than Berlioz might have anticipated, with much praise for individual 
performers and arias as well as the orchestral music.  Furthermore, research into the 
demonstrations of hostility indicates that the source is likely to have been those who were 
hostile to an opera which, despite its Italian subject, was not composed by an Italian.  Some 
reviews assumed that the opera would be heard again and listeners would become more comfortable 
with its musical style.  Professor Charlton concluded his study by opining that Berlioz acted 
precipitately in withdrawing his opera after one performance in London in 1853, mirroring his 
earlier action in Paris in 1838.

Gunther Braam, a master of locating both visual and obscure print sources on the internet and 
in print, gave a fascinating computer-based presentation, "Berlioz's Travels to and within 
Germany", whose separate trips he totals at twenty-four. (Mr. Braam is the author of The 
Portraits of Hector Berlioz, Volume 26 of the New Berlioz Edition, Bärenreiter, 2006, and 
editor of a German translation of Berlioz's Memoirs, Hainholz, 2007).  In addition to Berlioz's 
own accounts of his travels in Germany, impressions of Berlioz and his music from 
German-speaking auditors recorded in letters and diaries may be consulted.  Mr. Braam cited 
comments by and/or showed portraits of Sebastian Hensel, Carl Gustav Carus, Wolfgang Robert 
Griepenkerl, Eduard Devrient, and Princess Carolyn von Sayn-Wittgenstein.  Also very 
interesting was his demonstration of the astonishingly quick growth of the railway system in 
Germany between Berlioz's first visits in the 1840's and his later ones in the 1850's. A final 
note: Mr. Braam estimated that Berlioz spent a total of two years and two months in Germany; 
yet he never learned to speak German.  Mr. Braam played Franz Liszt's orchestral rendering of 
the Rákóczy March and Weber's Invitation to the Waltz by Felix Weingartner.

Following on Mr. Braam's heels was Pepijn van Doesburg, a Dutch musician, scholar, and 
Berliozian who has travelled to many locations where Berlioz lived or visited and has generously 
shared his photographs with the owners of HBerlioz.com so that website users may travel there 
vicariously.  His presentation was based on research he compiled for an article "Germany at
First", to be published in Peter Bloom's previously mentioned book, Berlioz: Scenes from the Life 
and Work.  Mr. van Doesburg said that, in the company of Marie Recio, Berlioz arrived in Mannheim 
on 9 January, 1843.  There he found a small but competent orchestra, a theater "the size of a hat",
and some three hundred Mannheimers, including the local grand duchess, Stephanie, to attend his 
concert on 13 January. Apparently the Grand Duchess Stephanie enjoyed Harold en Italie, the 
showpiece of the concert, which also included the King Lear Overture and vocal works sung weakly 
by Marie.  A private comment on the concert has survived: "The music of Berlioz, while highly 
original, is also highly deranged."  Contrary to an opinion often expressed in Germany, Berlioz 
was not to be compared with Beethoven.  What could be Berlioz's parting riposte has also survived:
"All musical endeavor is lost on the Mannheimers, who are colorless and without imagination." 

After a buffet luncheon which was every bit as delicious as Saturday's, but with different 
offerings, David Cairns presented a medal to Dr. Bryan Chenley for extraordinary service to the 
Berlioz Society dating to its founding in 1952.  Dr. Chenley's article "Barzun and the Founding 
of the Berlioz Society" may be enjoyed in the current issue of the Society Bulletin (No. 175, 
December, 2007, pp. 24-26).  Few memories could reach so far back so clearly as does Dr.
Chenley's in this article of tribute to Dr. Barzun and his meetings over the decades with the 
Society which were such a delight to members.  David Cairns also recognized the achievement of 
Dr. Harold Hughes, Administrator to the Berlioz Society, in organizing and publicizing the 
weekend.  Indeed, from my standpoint, the program was consistently on time, refreshments served 
as arranged, and all requirements for presenter and participant well cared-for.

Alastair, Lord Aberdare, editor-translator of Berlioz's Les Grotesques de la Musique rendered 
as The Musical Madhouse (University of Rochester Press, 2003), gave a fascinating account of the
mad social whirl of London life as experienced by Berlioz during his five visits between 1847 and
1855.  Each trip was occasioned by unusual or sometimes risky ventures.  His first visit was based 
on a contract to conduct operas at Drury Lane Theatre for Louis-Antoine Jullien, an entrepreneur 
prone to overextension and bankruptcy.  Within five months of Berlioz's arrival, Jullien was 
bankrupt.  Berlioz survived by conducting his own music; it was the first time Londoners heard 
Harold en Italie and La Damnation de Faust.  At his farewell benefit concert the performers 
offered their services without charge.  During his next visit in 1851 Berlioz represented France 
on a panel judging musical instruments at the Great Exhibition.  He attended a concert in St. 
Paul's Cathedral of 6000 children singing; the effect so impressed him that he added a children's 
choir to his Te Deum. In 1852 Berlioz conducted six concerts for the New Philharmonic Society at 
Exeter Hall.  His 1853 visit was the occasion of the début performance of Benvenuto Cellini at the
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, which Berlioz withdrew after the opening night débâcle so 
brilliantly analyzed earlier by Professor Charlton. Queen Victoria noted in her diary that she 
was unable to enjoy Berlioz's opera; she thought it confusing and the music sounded like the 
noise of cats and dogs. (At this point we listened to, I believe, the opening to the Roman 
Carnival scene.) Some common public criticisms were that the libretto
was weak and the melodies too few. The final monthlong visit of 1855 was an engagement
to conduct two concerts for the New Philharmonic Society.  Although Berlioz's visits to London 
were far from successful financially, his audiences admired his conducting style and gradually 
came to know and demand his music.  Following his visits, there were twenty-six
performances of Berlioz overtures between 1856 and 1869.  Finally, Lord Aberdare commented that
Berlioz found his London social life more absorbing than his Parisian life of the same time frame.

Our final speaker, Dr. Linda Edmondson, covered Berlioz's two sojourns in Russia–in 1847 and 
1867-68.  Her article, "Berlioz and Cultural Politics in Mid-Nineteenth Century Russia" is 
included in Professor Charlton's The Musical Voyager mentioned earlier.  Following an arduous 
fifteen-day pre-railway journey to Petersburg in deep winter, Berlioz entered a glittering 
society for whom he gave six concerts in less than three months.  These concerts introduced 
his music to Russian music lovers who welcomed him with open arms. He attended the salon of the 
Vielhorsky brothers.  He was impressed by Russian sacred music performed by the Imperial Chapel 
Choir.  He especially loved Bortianovksy's cantatas and later arranged some of his hymns.  With 
the proceeds from his first two concerts alone, Berlioz was able to settle the debts incurred by 
the Parisian failure of Faust.  Berlioz returned to a very different Russia in 1867. Tsar 
Alexander II had modernized the state and liberalized its government. Some things, however,
remained unchanged–the membership of orchestras was still closed to the gentry, so composed 
mainly of Germans.  The Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna who invited Berlioz to conduct his music was 
also largely responsible, along with Anton Rubenstein, for the Russianizing of music given in 
performance in the 1860's.  Berlioz's Harold en Italie was a great favorite with Russian audiences.
In Moscow an audience of over ten thousand came to hear the "Offertorium" from the Requiem.  The 
trip, with its eight concerts in two cities, was a personal triumph for Berlioz.

Despite the substantial amount of listening required of us over the two days, members kept the 
panel of the day's speakers occupied until 5:45 pm.  Dr. Hughes closed the meeting with the 
announcement that the Berlioz Society would focus on La Damnation de Faust at the same time 
next year.

-----

A personal note: despite the distance, I will do my best to return for future weekends. After 
four years of intensive listening and reading conducted mostly in isolation, I have at last 
found the people whose language I am learning to speak!

If anyone reading this report wishes to embark upon a study of Berlioz, his music and his life, 
I cannot perform a greater service than to send you to HBerlioz.com, which provides all the 
resources you need to find the music, the books, the articles, and the visual resources – and 
offers you a rich course of study right on-site besides.

                                                                             ---00000---

This page last updated 9th February 2008

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