Richard Brunel on BÉATRICE ET BÉNÉDICT - YouTube Richard Brunel on BÉATRICE ET BÉNÉDICT Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Mar 18, 2016 An opera by Hector Berlioz - based on Shakespeares "Much Ado About Nothing". Stage-director Richard Brunel explains the story. Category Beatrice and Benedict - YouTube Beatrice and Benedict Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on Oct 24, 2008 In Berliozs light-hearted opera—based on Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing— two stubborn people use verbal jousting to mask their true feelings for each other. HGO Studio alums Joyce DiDonato and Norman Reinhardt are the recalcitrant lovers in HGOs premere staging of this comical and poignant work. Michael Hofstetter conducts the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus in his HGO debut. Category Berlioz Meets Bard In 'Beatrice And Benedict' : NPR Berlioz Meets Bard In 'Beatrice And Benedict' Berlioz Meets Bard In 'Beatrice And Benedict' From the Champs-Elysees Theatre Embed Embed June 19, 200912:00 AM ET THE HIT SINGLE Act One ends with "Serene and Peaceful Night," a gentle duet for Hero and Ursula (sopranos Nathalie Manfrino and Elodie Mechain). While strolling in the moonlight, they reflect on the delights nighttime brings to the souls of lovers.

"Serene and Peaceful Night" Embed Embed <iframe src="" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> The B Side At the end of an extended, Act Two solo scene, Beatrice (mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato) wonders about her feelings for Benedict. In a virtuosic coda, she asks herself "Do I Love Him?" — and ecstatically concludes that she does. "Do I Love Him?" Embed Embed <iframe src="" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> It's hardly a surprise that some of the greatest operas of all time are based on plays by Shakespeare. What is surprising is that there are so few of those operas. Hector Berlioz composed his operatic version of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing early in the 1860s. Getty Images/Hulton Archive hide caption toggle caption Getty Images/Hulton Archive Actually, composers have cranked out hundreds of Shakespeare operas, but only a few of them truly cut the mustard.

That is, barely a handful of those operas are widely considered worthy of Shakespeare's legacy, and of a regular place in the opera house. Most opera fans would count three of Giuseppe Verdi 's operas among them: Macbeth , Otello and Falstaff . Others might include Charles Gounod 's Romeo and Juliet, or Benjamin Britten 's A Midsummer Night's Dream. And that's pretty close to the end of the list. Still, there may just be a Shakespeare-based, operatic dark horse that deserves more consideration than it gets. It's an appealing and insightful comedy, called Beatrice and Benedict, that combines the signature brilliance and bombast of composer Hector Berlioz with the sly, comedic insights of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Yet somehow, the work scarcely registers on many people's operatic radar — maybe because Berlioz is known more for his brilliant orchestral works than for his operas. So it's ironic that it was the composer's instrumental music that gave him the opportunity to write the opera in the first place.

Berlioz was 23, in the early 1830's, when he saw a series of Shakespeare's plays performed by an English theater company in Paris. He was overwhelmed by the experience, and began thinking about a musical setting of Much Ado About Nothing. But nothing came of the idea for nearly 30 years. Then, in the 1850s, Berlioz began presenting summertime concerts in the German spa town of Baden-Baden. The composer was hired by a casino owner to entertain his patrons, and the concerts were a great success. A few years later, the casino owner decided to commission a full-scale opera from Berlioz. The result was Beatrice and Benedict, which was premiered at a Baden-Baden theater in 1862. Article continues after sponsorship On this week's World of Opera, host Lisa Simeone presents Beatrice and Benedict from the Champs-Elysees Theatre in Paris. The stars are mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and tenor Charles Workman in the title roles, and the performance is led by one of the world's foremost interpreters of Berlioz's music, Sir Colin Davis.

See the previous edition of World of Opera or the full archive The Story of 'Beatrice and Benedict' June 18, 20094:52 PM ET WHO'S WHO? National Orchestra of France Radio France Chorus Sir Colin Davis, conductor American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato stars as Beatrice in the Champs-Elysees Theatre's production of Beatrice and Benedict. Sheila Rock/Virgin Classics hide caption toggle caption Sheila Rock/Virgin Classics Hector Berlioz wrote the libretto for Beatrice and Benedict himself, following Shakespeare's original Much Ado About Nothing fairly closely — or at least parts of the original. For the opera, Berlioz slimmed the story down, eliminating subplots and concentrating on the relationship between the title characters. The setting is the Sicilian town of Messina. As ACT ONE begins, the citizens have gathered in a park to welcome Don Pedro of Aragon. He's returning after a successful battle campaign. A man named Leonato enters with his daughter, Hero, and his niece, Beatrice. Hero is ecstatic, because Claudio, her lover, is expected to arrive soon with the victorious army, and the two hope to be married.

Left alone, Hero reflects joyfully on her future happiness. When Don Pedro arrives, along with Claudio, the engagement is made official. Meanwhile, another couple is having a very different sort of reunion. Beatrice and Benedict always seem to be at each others throats, trading jibes and insults. But aside, each confesses to taking a curious pleasure at baiting the other. Don Pedro congratulates Claudio on his betrothal, telling him how lucky he is. Then the two men turn to Benedict. Surely, they say, Claudio's happiness must tempt Benedict to find a wife as well. Benedict scoffs, declaring that he's not the marrying type. He says he has nothing against women, but he could never trust one. As far as he's concerned, women are as "gentle as a thistle." If he ever does fall for a woman, he tells his friends, they're free to hang a big sign on his house, saying "Here you'll find Benedict, the married man." Don Pedro and Claudio think that Benedict is all bluster, and decide to trick him into falling in love with Beatrice — which they suspect may already be happening.

They allow Benedict to overhear them talking about Beatrice, and how she's fallen head over heels for Benedict. Suddenly, Benedict changes his tune. Alone, he's admits to being thrilled that Beatrice is in love with him, and wants to be with her — but he's reluctant to believe it might actually happen. In the act's final scene, Hero is alone with her companion, Ursula. We learn that Beatrice has been the victim of the same trick that was played on Benedict — an "accidentally" overheard conversation about how much Benedict loves her. As the act ends, Hero and Ursula sing a gentle duet about the beauty of the evening, and the joys nighttime can bring to the souls of lovers. ACT TWO begins with a traditional dance, a Sicilienne, and a drinking song. Alone, Beatrice admits that, just maybe, she really is falling for Benedict. But she's not happy about it. If it's true, she says, she'll have to say goodbye to her mirth, and to her liberty. Hero and Ursula get together and rhapsodize about the ecstatic love between Hero and Claudio.

Beatrice joins them, agreeing that the two will surely have a joyful and passionate marriage. The other two women feign amazement at Beatrice's new attitude toward romance; she seems to be softening. Beatrice denies this, still maintaining that she could never love any man, especially Benedict. Love, she says, can only end in betrayal and heartbreak. At first, Hero seems to agree — but only as a joke. The three women go back to praising Hero's future happiness with Claudio, and their trio ends gently. A distant chorus is heard, summoning Hero to her wedding. Beatrice listens for a moment and makes to leave — but she runs into Benedict. Their nervous encounter is cut short when the wedding procession arrives. Hero and Claudio sign their wedding contract. Then the notary produces a second contract, asking if anyone else is ready to marry. Everyone looks pointedly at Beatrice and Benedict. On cue, four men enter, carrying a huge placard. It carries the fateful message: "Here you'll find Benedict, the married man." Benedict's friends read the message aloud. Benedict repeats it and then says, "Married ...

and content." The opera ends with a duet, as Beatrice and Benedict admit their true feelings. OK, they concede, they really are in love, at least for today. Perhaps they'll be enemies again ... but not until tomorrow. CIM Opera to stage Hector Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict February 24-27 CIM Opera to stage Hector Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict February 24-27 February 23, 2016 Download article as PDF by Mike Telin & Daniel Hathaway Directed by David Bamberger, CIM Opera Theater will present four performances of Hector Berlioz’s comic opera Béatrice et Bénédict in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music beginning on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30 pm and continuing through Saturday, February 27. An adaptation of William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, Berlioz conceived the piece as early as 1833, but completed it only in 1862 at the behest of a casino owner in Baden-Baden, Germany, where it was first performed at the Theater der Stadt in August of that year.

“It’s not performed that often, and most people only know it from the overture, which is such a great piece in itself,” conductor Harry Davidson said in a telephone conversation. “For the opera, Berlioz took out all the tragic elements that appear in the play — Héro being accused of adultery and her father disowning her — none of that is there. But it’s very stageworthy and the music is really quite delightful and charming.” Davidson refers to the piece as an orchestral-driven opera. “Because Berlioz wasn’t a keyboard virtuoso like most of his contemporaries, you can’t predict how he’s going to approach things. If you think of Symphonie fantastique and how very modern this piece sounds, you see some of that in the opera as well. There’s a modernity about it in the way, for instance, that he writes for the double basses separately from the cellos, and writes for trumpets with additional cornets.

This piece is from 1862, and Symphonie fantastique was 1830, but this still has that little touch of modernity that you don’t find in composers of that period.” Davidson said that Berlioz writes well for the voice, even though there are tinges of an orchestral approach there as well. But it’s an excellent piece for the students because the quality of the music is so good. The singers have hurdles to overcome, but they’re not impossible. “The hardest roles, of course, are Beatrice and Benedict — their arias have certain challenges for singers of this age, but they’re fine pieces and gratifying to sing. The students are certainly rising to the occasion very well.” The chorus plays a prominent role in the opera as well. The show opens with a chorus, and later features a hilarious wedding song. “Berlioz invented the character of Somarone — the name means ‘donkey-like,’ Davidson said. “The chorus master is trying to get his chorus ready to sing at the wedding. First, they sing his piece like a dirge. He throws up his arms and says, ‘This is my music — you have to sing it with beauty,’ then he makes them repeat it.

I’m trying to do the two versions quite differently, the first one very stiff and square. I said to the chorus the other day, ‘Everything I told you to do to make this musical: forget about it!’ All of this has nothing to do with Shakespeare, but it adds a new comic element.” We spoke to Halla Kalmansson and Kevin Adamik, who will sing the roles of Héro and Bénédict in the Wednesday-Friday cast. Kalmansson, a senior, is a native of the Boston area and Adamik, a native of Pittsburgh, is in his second year of professional studies. We asked them what they knew about the Shakespeare play before taking up their roles in the Berlioz. Halla Kalmansson: I am familiar with Much Ado About Nothing, and I was very excited to learn that we were doing the opera. But when I first read through it, I was surprised by how much Berlioz took out. In the play, Beatrice and Benedict are supposed to be the main characters, and the opera focuses even more on them than on Hero and Claudio.

Kevin Adamik: I did watch parts of Much Ado just to see what it was like, and I too was surprised by how much the opera focuses on Beatrice and Benedict compared to the play. The opera is pretty much all about trying to get the two of them together. Adamik in Handel’s Alcina Mike Telin: Who are the characters in this production? KA: The production is set in the 1960s on a U.S. college campus. Benedict is a star football player and the team is celebrating a big victory. Benedict begins to think that he might be in love with Beatrice, and begins to consider the advantages to being married even though he would rather be in a monastery than be married to any woman. Playing him as a football player is a little different than what I was thinking about the character at first. Usually in stories the football player gets with the cheerleader, but in this production Beatrice is a hippie. MT: Did you ever play football? KA: No, not at all, but I grew up in Pittsburgh, so I am a big Steelers fan and I’ve watched football my whole life. HK: Hero is a very bubbly character.

She’s happy throughout the entire opera. I think she’s completely selfless in her attempt to bring Beatrice and Benedict together, despite the fact that she herself is getting married to Claudio. So it is a very exciting time in her life and she wants everyone to be as happy as she is. MT: Is the production set at any particular college? KA: It’s Messina University USA, named after the town in Italy in which the opera is set. But everything is based on David Bamberger’s undergraduate school. MT: I understand that you’ll be singing in French but the spoken dialogue is in English. Have you sung many roles in French? HK: This is my first anything in French. I’ve sung one piece before, so it has been a challenging process. I took it step by step: notes and rhythms first, then memorizing the meaning of the words so you can translate that into the music while you are singing — that way it’s more than just syllables that mean nothing to you. But it is a long process no matter what the language is. KA: It’s sort of new to me to sing an entire major role in French. At first I just focused on learning the notes and vowels.

After the holiday break I began to focus on the French. Not being strong in the language, I had to write down every word and its English definition so I would know what I was saying. MT: What if any musical challenges did you encounter while learning the roles? HK: One challenge is my first aria. Hero’s talking about how excited and happy she is, but the music is very slow and somber. So it was a challenge to bring out that happiness. I was attracted to the part of Hero right away. It’s in a lower register than I usually sing but it is comfortable in my voice. I am enjoying singing it, and not having any range challenges has made it easier for me to learn the music quickly. KA: At first, the role felt bigger than what I was used to singing. The past two roles I’ve done were comedic roles, so the singing wasn’t tiring. The music is great, though at first I was worried that it wasn’t my voice type. But I just went into it gently and started learning it. The role fits my voice now and it doesn’t tire me, but it was frightening at first. Benedict has a duet, a trio, and an aria back to back to back.

Production photo by Rob Muller. Published on ClevelandClassical.com February 22, 2016. Click here for a printable copy of this article Berlioz: BÃ©atrice et BÃ©nÃ©dict: Amazon.co.uk: Music By Ralph Moore TOP 50 REVIEWER on 2 Mar. 2012 Format: Audio CD Verified Purchase Berlioz' lifelong fascination with Shakespeare finds its most charming and insouciant expression in this, his reduction of "Much Ado About Nothing" to the bare bones, avoiding any quasi-tragic shadow by excising the Claudio-Hero sub-plot engineered by Don John, substituting the pedantic, drunken music-master Somarone for Dogberry to provide the broader comic focus and providing his own dialogue very loosely based on Shakespeare's text. It is thus now little more than a light comedy of manners but constantly enlivened by Berlioz' mercurial music. No libretto is provided (although one in French can be downloaded) and as this is the only issue to include it in full, elegantly spoken by French actors quite well-matched to the respective singers, that seems rather unhelpful.

As a French speaker, I enjoy listening to it and certainly think Berlioz' ear was rather good but I imagine anyone who doesn't understand French being rather miffed by the long stretches of dialogue. Vocally and instrumentally, this is a superb performance: light and fleet in truly Gallic style. However, the singers here do not necessarily erase memories of predecessors, least of all Janet Baker's Beatrice for Colin Davis in 1977. A young Susan Graham has a meltingly lovely mezzo but is theatrically rather inert alongside Baker's knowing inflection of text and whereas Robert Tear certainly has a less beautiful voice than tenor Jean-Luc Viala (who sounds very like American tenor John Aler who also specialises in French roles) he does more in the acting vein. The vocal stand-out here is Sylvia McNair's Héro - which is just as well, as she has some of the best music in this opera/operetta.

Read more › The Hector Berlioz Website - Berlioz Biography Introduction This page aims to provide a chronological outline of the main events in Berlioz’s career, with a listing of his major musical and literary works, and mention of the people who played an important part in his life; the page is not meant to be a full biography of Berlioz. Fuller details are to be found on other pages of this site, to which this outline provides numerous hyperlinks. It thus serves as a chronological index of Berlioz’s career as documented and illustrated on this site. The text is divided into eight sections, each covering a distinctive period of Berlioz’s life: This page is also available in French Copyright notice: The texts, photos, images and musical scores on all pages of this site are covered by UK Law and International Law. All rights of publication or reproduction of this material in any form, including Web page use, are reserved. Their use without our explicit permission is illegal. 1.

1803-1821: Childhood at La Côte Saint-André 1803 On 7 February Louis Berlioz , a young doctor from La Côte Saint André in the Département of Isère, and Marie-Antoinette-Josephine, daughter of Nicolas Marmion, a lawyer from Meylan, are married in her home town on. She is 18 years old, he is 27. Louis-Hector Berlioz is born at 5.00pm on 11 December at No. 83 rue nationale , La Côte Saint-André and is baptised in the chapel of the Church of Saint André (14 December). His paternal grand-father Nicolas Marmion and great-grand-mother Sophie Brochier are, respectively, his god-father and god-mother. Dr and Madame Berlioz will have five other children of whom two will reach adulthood, Nanci and Adèle . ca 1811 Following the closure of the local seminary, Dr Louis Berlioz takes charge of his son’s education.

ca 1815 He meets Estelle Dubœuf , his " first passion ", in Meylan , now a suburb of Grenoble. Berlioz learns to read Virgil in the original Latin and translate it into French under his father’s tuition. 1816 Berlioz learns to play the flageolet ; earliest attempts at composition. 1817 First compositions, including the Pot-pourri for six instruments, now lost. Imbert, the second violin of the Théâtre de Lyon and engaged by the Mayor of La Côte to give lessons to the musicians of the National Guard, becomes Hector’s music teacher . Hector learns to play the flute. 1818 Composition of two quintets for flute and strings. A theme from one of them is reused later in the overture to Les Francs-Juges . 1819 In January Dr Berlioz buys a flute and later a guitar for his son who begins lessons on the instrument with his new teacher Dorant . Berlioz composes Le Dépit de la bergère, which is published by Auguste Le Duc. The autograph is lost.

The music was reused years later for the Sicilienne in Béatrice et Bénédict. Composition of a piece for voice and guitar, Je vais donc quitter pour jamais, text by Florian. It will be reused for the first movement of the Symphonie fantastique (bars 3-16). 2. 1821-1832: Student years in Paris and Italy 1821 Berlioz is made bachelier ès lettres at Grenoble on 22 March. He departs for Paris to read medicine in late October. First visit to the Opéra , where he sees a performance of Gluck’s masterpiece Iphigénie en Tauride (November). Shortly after he writes to his sister Nanci about this first experience. 1822 He frequents the Conservatoire library, where he seeks out the scores of Gluck , which are available to the public, and copies of large parts of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Iphigénie en Aulide. These copies in Berlioz’s hand have survived.

Berlioz hears Spontini ’s music for the first time when he attends performances of La Vestale and Fernand Cortez at the Opéra. Later he will meet the composer and become a champion of his music. When Spontini dies in 1851 Berlioz will write his obituary. He decides to devote himself to music. He is introduced by a friend to Lesueur , director of the Royal Chapel and professor at the Paris Conservatoire, who gives him encouragement. 1823 Berlioz writes his very first article at the age of 20, in the form of a letter to the journal Le Corsaire, which is published in the issue of 12 August 1823 During a visit to La Côte in spring and early summer his family fails to make him abandon his interest in music, he wins over his father but his mother curses him . Composition of Estelle et Némorin (now lost); the libretto is by Hyacinthe-Christophe Gerono, after Florian’s poem of the same title.

During the winter he writes an oratorio entitled Le Passage de la mer Rouge (The Crossing of the Red Sea; now lost) and shows it to Lesueur, who admits him as one of his private pupils. 1824 He is made Bachelier ès sciences physiques (12 January). Composition of the Messe solennelle , which is rehearsed (December) but not performed. He makes changes to it after he hears it at the rehearsal. He finally abandons medicine and embarks on a career in music. In December he attends a performance of Der Freischütz at the Odéon Theatre ; this is Berlioz’s first acquaintance with the music of Weber . 1825 His Messe solennelle is successfully performed at Saint-Roch on 10 July. The autograph score, believed to have been destroyed by him in 1827, is miraculously discovered in 1991 in a chest in the Church of St Carolus Borromeus in Antwerp. Berlioz starts working on an opera, Les Francs-Juges , on a libretto by his friend Humbert Ferrand .

During the winter he composes La Révolution grecque (La Scène héroïque). 1826 He is eliminated from the preliminary round of the Prix de Rome competition, his fugue submitted for consideration is unsuccessful (early July). He enrols at the Conservatoire in classes of Lesueur and Reicha (October). He completes Les Francs-Juges in October. The libretto is later rejected by the Opéra (May 1828). 1827 He is engaged as a chorister at the Théâtre des Nouveautés , to supplement his reduced monthly allowance from his father (March onwards). He enters the Prix de Rome competition; his cantata La Mort d’Orphée does not win any of the two prizes (late July). The judges reject it on the ground that it was not playable (on the piano). He composes the overture Waverley , inspired by Walter Scott ’s Waverley Novels. He sees two plays by Shakespeare staged by an English theatrical group at the Odéon : Hamlet on 11 September and Romeo and Juliet on 15 September. Harriet Smithson , the Irish actress plays the roles of Ophelia and Juliet.

Berlioz discovers Shakespeare and falls instantly in love with the interpreter of two of his most famous characters. The second performance of the Messe solennelle takes place at Saint-Eustache on 22 November, with Berlioz himself conducting for the first time. 1828 He hears Beethoven ’s Third and Fifth symphonies played at the Conservatoire, conducted by Habeneck (March onwards). Berlioz gives his first orchestral concert on 26 May. He enters the Prix de Rome competition for the second time; his cantata Herminie wins the second prize (July). He discovers Goethe ’s Faust, through Nerval’s French translation, which will be the inspiration behind the Huit scènes de Faust that he starts later in the year (September onwards). 1829 Huit scènes de Faust is published as opus 1 (late March-early April); Berlioz will later withdraw all the unsold copies. This work will in future be developed to form parts of La Damnation de Faust . Le Ballet des ombres is published as opus 2 (December).

Some music of this work will many years later be reused in the scherzo of Roméo et Juliette . He hears Beethoven’s last quartets (March onwards). Berlioz’s cantata Cléopâtre fails to win the prize at his third attempt to win the Prix de Rome (July). He gives his second public concert on 1 November, the programme consists of works by himself and Beethoven. Composition of Neuf mélodies irlandaises , setting Thomas Moore’s poems to music. Revision of Les Francs Juges; the new libretto by Humbert Ferrand requires 5 or six new movements; there is no evidence that Berlioz wrote them. The new libretto is rejected by the Opéra in any case. Berlioz reuses some of the music from the opera in his later works notably the Symphonie fantastique , Symphonie funèbre et triomphale and the Roman Carnival scene of Benvenuto Cellini . Of the opera the overture and some fragments survive. Berlioz conducted a number of performances of the work during his career, and it has remained in the repertoire ever since.

1830 Composition of the Symphonie fantastique (January-April). He starts a relationship with Camille Moke , a young talented pianist. This is, it seems, his first relationship with a woman. They are subsequently engaged. His cantata Sardanapale , which Berlioz described as a conventional academic piece of work, wins the first prize in the Prix de Rome competition (late July). Only a small fragment of this cantata has survived. Arrangement of the Marseillaise (July-August); composition of the overture La Tempête, inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest (August-October). The Symphonie fantastique is premièred at the Conservatoire on 5 December, conducted by Habeneck. Berlioz meets Liszt , who has attended the concert; it is the beginning of a long friendship between the two men which continues until the late 1850s. Later Liszt, who will champion Berlioz for years to come, transcribes the Symphonie fantastique for piano. On 30 December he leaves Paris for Italy , spending some time en route in La Côte , Grenoble, and Lyon.

As a Prix de Rome Laureate he is required to spend two years in Italy; his stay will in fact be much shorter. 1831 He arrives in Rome in March 1831 via Marseille and Florence, and joins his fellow laureates at the French Academy in the Villa Medici . The Director of the Academy at the time was the painter Horace Vernet . He meets Mendelssohn in Rome for the first time; they will meet again some years later when Berlioz goes on his first concert tour in Germany (1843). He receives a letter from Camille Moke’s mother informing him that she has called off their engagement and married M. Camille Pleyel, a rich piano manufacturer (mid April). He decides to return to Paris to take revenge and kill all three – but by the time he arrives in Nice (at the time part of Italy) he has calmed down and decides to stay put.

While in Nice he composes the overture Le roi Lear , inspired by Shakespeare’s play of the same title, and starts work on the overture Rob Roy , and on Le retour à la vie (The Return to Life), later called Lélio; the music is largely based on previously written pieces. The première of Meyerbeer ’s Robert le Diable at the Opéra is an outstanding success (21 November). 3. 1832-1842: Musical career in Paris 1832 Berlioz composes the song La Captive in Subiaco (February), which is dedicated to Mademoiselle Louise Vernet . While in Italy, Emile Signol draws Berlioz’s portrait . Naples, Pompeii, Genoa, Milan and Tivoli are among other cities and locations visited by Berlioz during his stay in Italy . He leaves Rome in May and eventually arrives in Paris in November, staying a few months en route at La Côte , where he briefly sees Estelle Fornier at the coach station to deliver her a letter at his mother’s request. On his return to Paris he meets the writer Ernest Legouvé who becomes a life-long friend.

He plans a concert which takes place on 9 December; it consists of the Symphonie fantastique and Lélio , and is conducted by Habeneck . Among the audience are the ‘élite’ of Paris Society: Victor Hugo , Alexandre Dumas père, Heinrich Heine, Paganini , Liszt , Chopin, George Sand , Alfred de Vigny , Théophile Gautier , Jules Janin and.… Harriet Smithson ; a few days later he is finally introduced to her. He writes an autobiographical sketch , the first he is known to have written, which forms the basis of an article on him by his friend Joseph d’Ortigue , published on 23 December in the Revue de Paris. 1833 Rob Roy , composed in 1831 during the time he spent in Italy, is performed on 14 April. After a prolonged and (for Berlioz) painful courtship, Hector and Harriet marry on 3 October at the British Embassy in Paris; Liszt is one of the witnesses; Berlioz’s friend Thomas Gounet pays for the expenses. Berlioz and his bride spend a short honeymoon in Vincennes near Paris.

The marriage takes place against the vehement opposition of Berlioz’s family, except for his younger sister, Adèle . 1834 Composition of the symphony with solo viola Harold en Italie at Paganini’s request (January-June). Berlioz and Harriet move to Montmartre . Hector and Harriet’s son Louis is born on 14 August. Composition of Sara la baigneuse for chorus and orchestra, on a poem by Victor Hugo. Berlioz becomes music critic of the influential Journal des Débats , owned and run by the Bertin family (October). The position brings him a regular income and provides him with a powerful platform — but it also means that he has to spend a lot of time attending performances of other composers’ operas and concerts in order to write about them, the time which he could have spent composing his own music. He will come to detest having to write for various journals in order to earn a living. Première of Harold en Italie at the Conservatoire on 23 November, Girard conducting. 1835 Première of La Juive by Halévy at the Opéra (23 February).

Composition of the cantata Le Cinq Mai , setting to music a poem by Béranger on Napoleon’s death, first performed at the Conservatoire on 22 November. He takes over conducting his own music himself and gives a concert at the Conservatoire (13 December). 1836 Composition of the opera Benvenuto Cellini . It is inspired by the autobiography of the Italian renaissance sculptor, relatively recently translated into French. The libretto is by Léon de Wailly and Auguste Barbier. His friend Ernest Legouvé lends him money which enables him to complete the work. Berlioz and Harriet attend the première of Les Huguenots by Meyerbeer at the Opéra (29 February). Berlioz moves back from Montmartre to Paris (September). Harriet Smithson appears on stage for the last time (17 December). 1837 The Grande messe des morts (Requiem) is commissioned (March) and composed between April and June. It is performed under Habeneck’s baton at the Invalides on 5 December. 1838 Berlioz’s mother dies on 18 February.

Benvenuto Cellini is premièred at the Opéra on 10 September; it is greeted with organised hostility and ends in failure. After hearing Harold en Italie performed at the Conservatoire (16 December), Paganini gives Berlioz 20,000 francs. 1839 Publication of the overture to Benvenuto Cellini, dedicated to Ernest Legouvé (January). Thanks to Paganini’s gift Berlioz is able to devote much of his time to the composition of Roméo et Juliette which is completed on 8 September. The work is dedicated to Paganini , who died the following year without hearing the work. Berlioz becomes Deputy Librarian (Conservateur adjoint) of the Conservatoire Library (9 February). Berlioz is made Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur (10 May). First three performances of Roméo et Juliette under Berlioz’s direction at the Conservatoire on 24 November, 1 and 15 December; Wagner is present at the last performance.

Paul de Pommayrac draws a miniature portrait of Berlioz, which is now in the Musée Hector Berlioz at La Côte Saint-André . 1840 The Symphonie funèbre et triomphale is commissioned to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the 1830 Revolution (March). Composed in June and July, it is performed in the open air under the direction of Berlioz himself (28 July). Berlioz leads the procession of musicians which ends at the Place de la Bastille, where a commemorative bronze column, the Colonne de Juillet , in honour of the victims of the revolution is inaugurated. Berlioz visits his father at La Côte (September). 1841 Composition of the Rêverie et caprice for violin and orchestra, based on a discarded aria from Benvenuto Cellini (March). Berlioz writes recitatives for a production of Weber ’s Der Freischütz at the Opéra (May), and also orchestrates Weber’s Invitation à la valse to provide ballet music for it (May-June).

Weber’s Der Freischütz is performed at the Opéra with recitatives by Berlioz (first performance on 9 June). Les Nuits d’été (for piano and voices) is completed and published (September). Some years later all the six songs will be orchestrated. Start of the composition of La Nonne sanglante , based on an episode of Lewis’s The Monk, on a libretto by Eugène Scribe (September). Start of a series of 16 articles On Orchestration (De l’Instrumentation) in the Revue et gazette musicale (21 November 1841 till 17 July 1842); this will form the basis of his later treatise on orchestration , first published late in 1843 . Berlioz starts his relationship with the singer Marie Recio . 4. 1842-1848: Musical career abroad (1) 1842 Completion of the ballad La Mort d’Ophélie on a poem by Legouvé (7 May), inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Concert tour to Brussels (September-October), as a preliminary to the first of many of Berlioz’s travels in Europe . Marie Recio accompanies him on this and subsequent tours. In December, start of the long-projected concert tour to Germany , starting with Brussels , Frankfurt and Stuttgart . 1843 Concert tour continues through Hechingen , Mannheim , Weimar , Leipzig , Dresden , Brunswick , Hamburg , Berlin , Hanover and Darmstadt (January to May). On this tour he meets many composers — Mendelssohn (for the second time, in Leipzig ), Marschner (in Hanover), Wagner (in Dresden), Meyerbeer (in Berlin) and Schumann (in Leipzig), who in 1835 had written an enthusiastic article on the Symphonie fantastique . Berlioz returns to Paris in late May/early June. Start of the serialisation of the Voyage musical en Allemagne in the Journal des Débats (from 13 August). This will be later incorporated in his Memoirs. Composition of the overture Le Carnaval romain , based on music from act I of Benvenuto Cellini (completed in early January 1844).

1844 Publication of the treatise on orchestration , the Grand traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes (January). The overture Le Carnaval romain is premièred as a concert piece at the Salle Herz (3 February); the work was dedicated to the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen . Composition of the Hymne à la France (June) for the Festival of Industry concert on 1 August. Publication of Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie (mid-August). This will be later incorporated in his Memoirs. Recovering from his exertions Berlioz makes a trip to Nice from September to mid October; while there he composes the first version of an overture, which is first called La Tour de Nice [The Tower of Nice]. The work will be subsequently revised between 1846 and 1851 and renamed Le Corsaire . Berlioz and his wife Harriet separate; he moves in with Marie Recio in her flat at 41 rue de Provence ; Harriet continues to live at 43 and then 65 rue Blanche .

From now on Berlioz will maintain two households; he continues to provide for Harriet and, a few years later when she becomes seriously ill, he pays for all her medical expenses as well. In November, composition of the Three pieces for Alexander’s melodium-organ and of the Marche Funèbre pour la dernière scène d’Hamlet (the latter piece was never performed in Berlioz’s lifetime). 1845 He gives four large-scale concerts at the Cirque Olympique ( 19 January , 16 February, 16 March, 6 April), the last two of which include music by Glinka . Berlioz’s first concert tour in France: concerts in Marseille (19 and 25 June) and Lyon (20 and 24 July). Brief visit to La Côte to see his father (9 July). While in Lyon Berlioz meets again his old guitar teacher Dorant . Start of the composition of La Damnation de Faust (September), which incorporates in a revised version the music from his earlier work, Huit scènes de Faust . In October he leaves for Vienna where he gives three concerts (16, 23, 29 November).

While there, August Prinzhofer draws Berlioz’s portrait (between 2 November and 31 December) and Joseph Kriehuber also draws his portrait (between 20 and 29 November). 1846 Continuation of the concert tour in Germany and central Europe: Prague , back to Vienna, Pesth (in modern Hungary), Breslau , Prague again and Brunswick . In January a poem in honour of Berlioz by the Viennese writer Johann Hofzinser is published in the journal Der Wanderer, and it looks forward to Berlioz’s forthcoming trip to Hungary. At the request of a Hungarian friend, Berlioz orchestrates Hungary’s national anthem which is enthusiastically received when he conducts it at a concert in Budapest ; he later incorporates it in the Damnation of Faust as the Hungarian March (Marche hongroise). A second portrait of Berlioz by Prinzhofer in Vienna (between 1 January and 28 February). Joseph Kriehuber draws a group picture of Berlioz and friends entitled ‘ Une matinée chez Liszt ’ (April.) He returns to Paris in May.

Early in June he is commissioned to compose Chant des chemins de fer on a text by Jules Janin , which is performed in Lille (14 June) as part of the inauguration ceremony of the railway line between that city and Paris. Performance of the Requiem at Saint-Eustache in memory of Gluck (20 August). Completion of the composition of La Damnation de Faust (19 October) which is premièred at the Salle Favart on 6 December and repeated on 20 December; it is a failure and leaves Berlioz heavily in debt. 1847 Berlioz makes his first visit to Russia (February-May); on 14 February he leaves Paris for Saint-Petersburg via Brussels and Berlin . While in Saint-Petersburg, Berlioz meets Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein for the first time. After a successful series of concerts in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow he returns home via Riga and Berlin , where he gives two concerts , with Harold en Italie , excerpts from La Damnation de Faust and other pieces in Riga (29 May) and La Damnation de Faust in Berlin (19 June).

Berlioz arrives in Paris in the last week of June. He abandons the composition of La Nonne sanglante. Fragments of this opera survive. The libretto was later set to music by Gounod, and Berlioz reviewed the first performance of the work in 1854. Start of the serialisation in the Journal des Débats of his account of his travels in central Europe and Russia (from 24 August), later incorporated in the Memoirs . Visit of Berlioz to La Côte with his son Louis (8-20 September). This is Louis’s first visit to his grandfather’s home . On 3 November he departs for London to make the first of his five visits. This visit will last over seven months (November 1847 - July 1848); he is engaged as conductor by Jullien , director of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane . For the best part of this visit Berlioz stays at 76 Harley Street , which belongs to Jullien. 5. 1848-1856: Musical career abroad (2) 1848 The February Revolution breaks out in Paris.

Berlioz begins the writing of his Memoirs in March during the stay in London . His mistress Marie Recio joins him in London in April; they move to 26 Osnaburgh Street (since demolished and replaced by a block of flats). Berlioz remains in London until mid-July. His father Dr Louis Berlioz dies at La Côte on 28 July; Berlioz goes to La Côte on 21 August "to mourn the death of his father with his sisters" Nanci and Adèle . He also makes a pilgrimage to Meylan , where he first met Estelle Dubœuf back in 1815. He returns to Paris in mid-September, and stays at 15 rue de la Rochefoucauld . Harriet suffers a series of strokes which leave her almost paralysed. She needs constant attention and four servants look after her continuously; all paid for by Berlioz who visits her almost daily when he is in Paris. Start of the composition of the Te Deum (October, completed in August 1849). Berlioz conducts a concert in the palace of Versailles (29 October).

1849 Publication of Vox populi (November), comprising La Menace des Francs and the Hymne à la France . 1850 The Société philharmonique de Paris, in which Berlioz is heavily involved, is launched (first concert on 19 February, conducted by Berlioz). Berlioz succeeds as Librarian at the Paris Conservatoire (27 April); this will be the only official position that he will ever hold in France, and the only regular and assured source of income for the rest of his life. Performance of the Requiem at Saint-Eustache (3 May). Berlioz’s sister Nanci dies of breast cancer on 4 May. Compilation of Feuillets d’album, comprising Zaïde , Les Champs , and Chant des chemins de fer ; arrangement of Bortnianski’s Chant des chérubins and Pater noster (September). Start of the composition of La Fuite en Égypte (October, completed by the end of the year), later incorporated in L’Enfance du Christ . 1851 Death of Spontini (24 January).

Berlioz applies to become member of the Institut de France to succeed Spontini (6 March), but is unsuccessful; Ambroise Thomas is elected (22 March). Second and final season of the Société philharmonique de Paris (last formal concert on 29 April). Berlioz travels to London for the second time between May and July, on official visit: he is sent by the French government as member of the international commission examining musical instruments at the Great Exhibition . The following year he gives a detailed account of this visit in Les Soirées de l’orchestre . 1852 Third visit to London, between March and June. Berlioz is engaged by Frederick Beale , the co-founder of the New Philharmonic Society, to conduct six concerts for the Society at Exeter Hall . While Berlioz is still in London, Liszt embarks on the revival in Weimar of Benvenuto Cellini and conducts on 20, 24 and 27 March performances of what was to become with Berlioz’s approval the Weimar version of that opera. These are the first performances of the work since the disastrous première in Paris in 1838.

Performance of the Requiem at Saint-Eustache (22 October). Later in the year Berlioz and Marie Recio travel to Weimar (November) to attend a "Berlioz week" organised by Liszt. Benvenuto Cellini receives several performances in its revised ‘Weimar version’ at the Grand-Ducal Theatre. Serialisation of Les Soirées de l’orchestre in Revue et gazette musicale (from 19 September), published as a book in December, with a second edition in 1854. 1853 Berlioz travels to London for the fourth time , from mid-May to mid-July. He is invited by Frederick Gye , the director of Covent Garden, to produce and conduct Benvenuto Cellini at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden . Berlioz withdraws it after one performance (25 June), because of the audience’s hostile reception. First visit to Baden-Baden to conduct a concert on 11 August; the concert is part of an annual festival which Édouard Bénazet , the director of the Casino, has asked Berlioz to organise.

The visit to Baden-Baden is followed by a trip to Frankfurt , where he gives two concerts (20, 24 August). He embarks on a concert tour in Germany: Brunswick , Hanover , Bremen and Leipzig , between October and December. 1854 Harriet Smithson dies on 3 March and is buried the next day in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent , a small cemetery in Montmartre. Later in 1864 she will be moved to Montmartre Cemetery , to her final resting place which she will share with Berlioz and his second wife Marie Recio. Another concert tour in Germany: Hanover , Brunswick and Dresden (late March to early May). Composition of the cantata L’Impériale (before July). Completion of the composition of L’Enfance du Christ (July). Trip to La Côte to settle his father’s inheritance (September). Completion of the main part of Berlioz’s Memoirs (the last numbered chapter [ 59 ] is dated 18 October 1854).

Later three new sections will be added: the Postscript , Postface and Trip to Dauphiné , respectively in 1856, 1864 and 1865 (the final version). On 19 October Berlioz marries Marie Recio; he writes to his son that, having lived with her for 14 years, it was his duty to do so. First performance of the complete L’Enfance du Christ at the Salle Herz (10 December); the work is warmly received. 1855 Revised version of Le Retour à la vie, now called Lélio (January). Berlioz gives concerts in Weimar in February and Brussels in March. The Te Deum is premièred at Saint-Eustache on 30 April, Berlioz conducting. Fifth and last visit to London between June and July – Berlioz is engaged by Henry Wylde , the co-founder of the New Philharmonic Society, to conduct two concerts for the Society at Exeter Hall . During his stay he has a long meeting with Wagner at Sainton’s flat . Berlioz leaves England on 7 July never to return.

Berlioz serves on the jury of the Exposition universelle held in Paris (August-September). In November, Berlioz gives three concerts at the Palais de l’Industrie , including the first performance of L’Impériale . Publication from November 1855 to April 1856 of Berlioz’s account of his first trip to Russia in the Magasin des Demoiselles . Publication late in the year of the second revised edition of the Treatise on Instrumentation and Orchestration which now includes a new chapter, Le Chef d’orchestre — théorie de son art (The Conductor — Theory of his Art). 6. 1856-1863: Les Troyens 1856 Berlioz travels on a concert tour to Gotha and Weimar (end January to early March); in Weimar he attends another performance of Benvenuto Cellini conducted by Liszt (16 February). During his visit to Weimar Princess Sayn-Wittenstein convinces Berlioz that he must compose Les Troyens. Completion of the orchestration of Les Nuits d’été .

Berlioz and Marie move to 17 rue de Vintimille in April, and stay there till October. In April Berlioz begins the composition of Les Troyens; the opera is based on Books Two and Four of Virgil ’s Aeneid, which Berlioz had first read as a child under his father’s guidance . Berlioz will write the libretto as well as the musical score . Berlioz adds a Postscript to his Memoirs, dated 25 May 1856 (the first edition gives the year incorrectly as 1858). Berlioz succeeds to Adam’s chair at the Institut de France (21 June). In July and August he visits Plombières (to take waters on his doctor’s advice) and Baden-Baden for the annual concert. Berlioz and Marie move to 4 rue de Calais in October; this will be Berlioz’s last domicile in Paris till his death. Onset of an intestinal illness from which he will suffer for the rest of his life and which will progressively get worse. 1857 Continuation of the composition of Les Troyens. Drawings and portrait of Berlioz by Nadar (January).

Weber ’s Oberon and Euryanthe are revived at the Théâtre-Lyrique (6 March and 1 September) and reviewed by Berlioz. Visit to Plombières and Baden-Baden in July and August. 1858 Completion of the score of Les Troyens (April); further revisions will be made later. Visit to Baden-Baden in August. Bénazet commissions a new opera from Berlioz; the opera will not in fact be written, and two years later Berlioz will write Béatrice et Bénédict instead. Berlioz stops in Strasbourg on his way back from Baden-Baden. Parts of the Memoirs are serialised in Le Monde illustré , starting in September until September of the following year. 1859 Visit to Bordeaux , where Berlioz gives a concert (8 June). Visit to Baden-Baden in August. Berlioz supervises the revival of Gluck ’s opera Orphée at the Théâtre-Lyrique (November), with Pauline Viardot in the title role. His review of the production is later included in A Travers Chants.

Berlioz is acutely ill; he asks Bénazet to cancel his commission for Baden-Baden. 1860 The Théâtre-Lyrique agrees to stage Les Troyens (January). Review of Wagner ’s concerts in the Journal des Débats (9 February), later incorporated in A Travers Chants. Open letter by Wagner in the Journal des Débats in reply to Berlioz (22 February). Berlioz’s younger sister Adèle dies of heart-related illness on 2 March, shortly after being visited by Berlioz. She is buried in Vienne where she has been living with her husband and two daughters. Berlioz reviews a production of Beethoven ’s opera Fidelio at the Théâtre-Lyrique in the Journal des Débats (19 and 22 May); the articles are later reproduced in A Travers Chants. Berlioz visits Baden Baden (August), with a stop at Luxueil on the way. Berlioz decides to have the vocal score of Les Troyens printed at his own expense (September); this appeared in 1862.

Berlioz starts composing Béatrice et Bénédict (October), which Bénazet will accept for the inauguration of the new theatre in Baden-Baden. 1861 Berlioz receives a silver crown from the youth of Györ to thank him for the Hungarian March (early February). First performance of Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Opéra, in the presence of Berlioz (13 March). Les Troyens is dropped by the Théâtre-Lyrique but accepted by the Opéra (June). Visit to Baden-Baden in August; the concert on the 26th is attended by Berlioz’s nieces Joséphine and Nanci Suat as well as by their father. Articles on Gluck ’s setting of Alceste in the Journal des Débats (October-December), subsequently reproduced in À Travers Chants. 1862 Completion of Béatrice et Bénédict, loosely based on Shakespeare’s Much ado about nothing; both libretto and score are by Berlioz himself. The autograph score is dated 25 February 1862.

Death of Halévy (17 March); Berlioz fails in his application to succeed him as permanent secretary of the Académie des beaux-arts. Berlioz’s second wife, Marie Recio , dies of a heart attack on 13 June at the age of 48, while staying with some friends at Saint-Germain near Paris. She is buried at Montmartre Cemetery on 16 June and later moved to a private plot donated by one of Berlioz’s friends Édouard Alexandre. Berlioz meets a young woman called Amélie at Montmartre Cemetery; though she is only 24 he comes close to her (late June). First performances of Béatrice et Bénédict at Baden-Baden on 9 and 11 August. Madame Charton-Demeur sings the role of Béatrice. Berlioz gives to Vladimir Stasov the manuscript of his Te Deum which he donates to the municipal library of St-Petersburg (11 September) Publication of À Travers Chants (September).

1863 Berlioz ends his relationship with Amélie at her request and is deeply upset (mid-February) Les Troyens is dropped by the Opéra but accepted by Carvalho , director of the newly re-built Théâtre-Lyrique (mid February). Visit to Weimar in April to conduct Béatrice et Bénédict in German translation and in an augmented form (8 and 10 April); while in Germany he also goes to Löwenberg to give a concert there (19 April). He conducts L’Enfance du Christ in Strasbourg on 22 June. Visit to Baden-Baden in August to revive Béatrice et Bénédict in an augmented form (14 and 18 August). Berlioz publishes his last signed article for the Journal des Débats on 8 October, on Bizet’s opera Les Pêcheurs de perles [The Pearl Fishers]. He encounters great difficulties in staging Les Troyens in a truncated form at the Théâtre-Lyrique. It is eventually premièred on 4 November and runs to 21 performances until 20 December.

Madame Charton-Demeur sings the role of Didon. Paris will wait another 140 years to see Les Troyens staged complete and without cuts in 2003 at the Théâtre du Châtelet , on the opposite side of the Place du Châtelet. 7. 1864-1869: Final years 1864 Arrangement of the Marche troyenne as a concert piece (January). Harriet Smithson ’s remains are moved to the cemetery in Montmartre from the Saint Vincent Cemetery which was due for demolition (3 February or 3 March). Berlioz finally resigns as music critic of the Journal des Débats (end March). Death of Meyerbeer (2 May). Berlioz adds the Postface to the Memoirs (first half of July) Berlioz is made Officier de la Légion d’honneur at the same time as his friend Legouvé (12 August). On 22 August, Berlioz hears from a friend that Amélie, who was suffering from poor health, had died at the age of 26.

A week later, while walking in the Montmartre Cemetery, Berlioz discovers Amélie’s grave; she had been dead for six months. He is devastated. Berlioz travels to Dauphiné to visit relatives: Adèle ’s family in Vienne (30 August), Camille Pal ( Nanci ’s husband) in Grenoble (ca. 18 September). He revisits Meylan (22 September) and the next day meets Estelle Fornier in Lyon for the first time in over 40 years. He begins a regular correspondence with her. 1865 The final section of the Memoirs, the Trip to Dauphiné , is completed and dated on 1 January. Berlioz sends the completed text to the publishers. Completion of the printing of the Memoirs (1200 copies, on 29 July). Berlioz sends a copy to Estelle Fornier; the remaining copies are stored in his office at the Conservatoire awaiting posthumous publication (a copy of this early print is now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, and another in the Hector Berlioz Museum in La Côte ).

Visit to Estelle Fornier in Geneva (18-25 August), followed by visits to his brothers-in-law Camille Pal in Grenoble (ca. 25-29 August) and Marc Suat in Vienne (29 August-9 September). 1866 Berlioz meets Liszt for the last time (21 April). Last meeting with his son Louis (early August). Visit to Estelle Fornier in Geneva (15-19 September). Successful revival of Gluck ’s Alceste at the Opéra (first performance on 12 October). During the preceding months Berlioz had supervised the rehearsals (from July onwards). Death of Joseph d’Ortigue , one of Berlioz’s closest friends (20 November). Visit to Vienna in December to conduct the first complete performance there of La Damnation de Faust (16 December). 1867 Visit to Cologne to give a concert (26 February). His son Louis, who was commander of a merchant ship , dies of yellow fever in Havana on 5 June; Berlioz only receives the news on 29 June and is devastated .

In his study at the Conservatoire Berlioz destroys a large number of papers and memorabilia associated with his career (mid July). Berlioz draws up his will (29 July). He visits Adèle’s family in Vienne in August and Estelle Fornier in St Symphorien, where she now lives with her son Henri and his family, in September. The visit on 9 September is the last time that he sees her. He accepts an invitation from Grand-Duchess Yelena Pavlovna to make a concert tour in Russia (18 September). Departure from Paris for Russia (12 November). 1868 Berlioz returns to Paris from Russia exhausted (17 February). Last trip to Nice early in March, where Berlioz suffers two falls. He adds a codicil to his will. In August he visits Grenoble for the last time to preside over a choral competition. 1869 8 March: Berlioz dies at his Paris home No. 4 rue de Calais at 30 minutes past midday.

His faithful servant , his mother-in-law Madame Martin and his devoted friends Ernest Reyer and Madame Charton-Demeur are with him in his final hours. The funeral service is held at the Église de la Trinité (11 March). He joins his two wives at Montmartre Cemeter y . 8. Posthumous events 1870 Following Berlioz’s express wish the Memoirs are posthumously published by Michel-Lévy Frères and the edition, dated MDCCCLXX, incorporates a photograph of Berlioz on the frontispiece . 1886 A statue in Berlioz’s honour is unveiled at the Square Vintimille, later renamed Square Berlioz , in a ceremony held on 17 October. 1890 A fine copy of the statue in Paris is erected in the Place Hector Berlioz at La Côte Saint-André and inaugurated on 28 September.

1903 Centenary of Berlioz’s birth: this provides the occasion for the first collected (but incomplete) edition of his musical works (1900-1907) Inauguration of the statue of Berlioz by Urbain Basset in the Place Victor Hugo, Grenoble (15 August) 1935 Inauguration of the Berlioz Museum at La Côte. 1969 Centenary of Berlioz’s death: this provides the impetus for the complete publication of all his literary and musical works, including his letters , pursued over a period of years. 2003 World-wide celebrations for Berlioz’s bicentenary. Other biographical pages on this site:

Question: The Hector Beriioz opera "Beatrice et Benedict" is based on which of Shakespeare's plays?
Answer: Much Ado About Nothing