Book Description
This biography of composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) describes with unprecedented intimacy, affection, and respect the life of one of France's greatest artists. After long being regarded as an oddity and an eccentric figure, Berlioz is now being accepted into the ranks of the great composers. Based on a wealth of previously unpublished sources, and on a profound understanding of the humanity of his subject, David Cairns's book provides a full account of this extraordinary and powerfully attractive man.
Berlioz, Volume I, previously published only in Britain, is now available to American readers in a revised edition, together with the eagerly awaited, new Volume II. These two volumes together comprise a monumental biographical achievement, sure to stand as the definitive Berlioz biography.
In researching Berlioz's life, Cairns has had access to unpublished family papers, and in Volume I he is able to portray all the people close to Berlioz in his boyhood, and to evoke a detailed picture of their lives in and around La Côte St.-André in the foothills of the French Alps. No artist's achievement connects more directly with early experience than that of Berlioz, whose passionate sensibility began to absorb the material of his art long before he had heard any musical ensemble other than the local town band. Volume I also traces the student years in Paris and Italy and discusses Berlioz's three great love affairs, shedding remarkable light on his later character and development. Volume I ends on the afternoon of December 9, 1832, the day of the concert that launched the composer's career.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant portrait of a complex man, vol. 1.......2004-01-27
An amazing biography. A work such as this will most likely appeal to only 1 out of 100,000 Amazon customers, but those who read it will never forget it, and once having read it will listen to Berlioz's music with a knowing insider's grin.
Cairns has done what is extremely difficult: he has created an easy-to-read, engaging, yet methodical and thorough modern biography in English of a composer who was born 200 years ago and whose paper trail was written entirely in French. The book has good humor but is not fawning or hagiographic.
A little note (pun intended): this is about Berlioz the man, and not about Berlioz as an ethnomusicologist's project. In other words, this is the study of a young man and how he came to know and create music, but not about that music per se.
Bonne lecture!
Great Scholar.......2001-09-20
David Cairns is a great Berlioz scholar. Like to meet him someday. His translation of "Memoirs" is much superior to Newmans.I bought the 1st volume of the biography some years ago when it first came out and the second a couple of years ago when it was first published. I revisit these volumes frequently. Berlioz was one of the really great romantics. At least 50 years before his time. Glad to see SF opera is planning on staging Cellini & B & B over the next few years. Sixtus Beckmesser
Incredible........2000-05-14
This really is one of the best biographies of any subject to come my way.I didn't know a lot of Berlioz's music before approaching this but it didn't actually matter.All the elements of a gripping novel are here only for they're true!-fighting paternal disapproval,living in poverty in Paris,eloping with a virtuoso pianist-it's all here and Cairns paints such an intimate picture that you can't but fail to admire Berlioz and his dogged determination to be a composer and write HIS music only to be continually rebuked in his native homeland.The efforts that the man had to go to just to hear his own music is truly heartbreaking.Biography doesn't get much better than this-especially if you're only even remotely interested in music or art.
A Passionate Man.......2000-04-25
This is a wonderful book both for the lay reader and for the musically knowledgeable. It says a great deal about how well written this book is that someone like me who knows nothing about music could still enjoy the book so much. Mr. Cairns takes the tale from the birth of Berlioz in 1803 up until 1832, when he was in his late 20's. You learn about his relationship with his parents, who were opposed to his choice of composer for a career, and his sisters. We are very fortunate that this was a great age for letter writing. Mr. Cairns makes judicious use of the correspondence between Berlioz and his family and friends to the point where you almost feel yourself to be a friend or family member. You get inside the young composer's mind as he tries to convince his parents that his desire to write music is not just a "whim", but something that he is absolutely passionate about and must do. Berlioz was also extremely sensitive and romantic. After seeing the English actress Harriet Smithson perform on stage in several works by Shakespeare he developed an obsessive love for her, even though he had never met her. He had an apartment across the street from where she lived and would longingly watch her comings and goings. He eventually wrote her several notes expressing his feelings but she rebuffed him, quite understandably one would think! (She had also heard a rumor, which was untrue, that he was an epileptic.) Shortly after coming to the realization that Smithson was unattainable Berlioz met the virtuoso pianist Camille Moke and they fell in love with each other and eventually got engaged. Alas, when poor Hector had to go to Rome to live in order to receive grant money from winning the Prix de Rome, Camille dumped him and opted for security by marrying a wealthy man. This soured Hector on women for awhile but did not diminish his love for music, nature and life. Mr. Cairns has been a professional music critic and is also a scholar, so he understands and ably explains the technical aspects of Berlioz's music. I was totally lost in these sections but my ignorance did not diminish my enjoyment of this sympathetic and wonderfully written book.
Average customer rating:
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The Musical Madhouse: English Translation of Berlioz's Les Grotesques de la musique (Eastman Studies in Music)
Hector Berlioz
Manufacturer: University of Rochester Press
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ASIN: 1580461824 |
Book Description
Hector Berlioz's Les Grotesques de la musique is the only one of his books that has never been translated into English in its entirety. It is by far the funniest of all his works, and consists of a number of short anecdotes, witticisms, open letters, and comments on the absurdities of concert life. Alastair Bruce's fluid translation brings to life this important composer and bon vivant. He does a wonderful job of conveying all the puns, jokes, and invective of Berlioz's prose as well as the nuances of his stories. He even imitates a Tahitian accent in the translation, as Berlioz does in the original. The notes will give the reader insight into the innuendos and in-jokes that fill the pages. This translation will take its place among other translations of Berlioz's prose writings, bringing to the reader more lively examples of a still misunderstood composer caught up in the musical life of mid-nineteenth century Paris. Alastair Bruce is a London-based management consultant and former treasurer of the Berlioz Society. Hugh Macdonald is General Editor of New Berlioz Edition.
Average customer rating:
- A true classic
- Strauss's additions are worth the price alone
- The Book. By the man who "wrote the book."
- Quite possibly the best book on music ever written!
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Treatise on Instrumentation
Hector Berlioz , and
Richard Strauss
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
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ASIN: 0486269035 |
Book Description
The most influential work of its kind ever written, appraising the musical qualities and potential of over 60 commonly used stringed, wind and percussion instruments. Includes 150 full-score musical examples from works by Berlioz, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and others. Complete with Berlioz' chapters on the orchestra and on conducting. Foreword by Richard Strauss. Glossary.
Customer Reviews:
A true classic.......2007-05-17
The revision by R. Strauss added a lot of technical in-depth, that today remains current.
Strauss's additions are worth the price alone.......2004-06-21
Two of the best orchestrators of all time contributed to this book regarding orchestration and the mechanics of various instruments. With examples from many scores included in alsmost every section (especially Wagner, who Strauss admired highly), this tome is invaluable. Throughout the book limitations, advantages, and effects achievable by a broad range of instruments are discussed in detail with good examples included for each section.
I highly recommend the Treatise on Instrumentation. It is worth the price just to get to hear the personal opinions and thoughts of two master composers.
The Book. By the man who "wrote the book.".......2003-12-17
Two hundred years ago this week, Louis-Hector Berlioz was born. This, then, is a time for me to comment on a few of his works, some of them "favorites by acclamation" and others simply those in which I find special merit.
When Berlioz died, in April, 1869, an obituary in the Musical Times read, in part, "...there can be little doubt that he will be remembered by his able and acute contributions to musical criticism than by any of the compositions with which he hoped to revolutionize the world."
These words by the Musical Times were addressed to Berlioz's feuilletons (musical criticisms in a largely satirical style). Berlioz captured many of his best feuilletons in his anthology Soirées de l'Orchestre ("Evenings in the Orchestra"), and his trenchant wit is also evident in his Memoirs.
But Berlioz did leave behind one work for which musical education for generations of composers to come had been the purpose: his "Treatise on Instrumentation," or, if one likes, "the art of writing for musical instruments of the orchestra to achieve maximum effect." The Treatise was the very first serious effort to fully describe these matters of instrumentation and orchestration, instrument-by-instrument and orchestral-choir-by-orchestral-choir. Paraphrasing a portion of a recent Berlioz Bicentennial article by none less than Norman Lebrecht, the Treatise was closely studied by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss (who themselves were masterly orchestrators), Modest Mussorgsky had died with a copy of the Treatise on his bed, and, as a result of wildly successful concerts led by Berlioz in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov was motivated to write his own equivalent, "Principles of Orchestration," which would serve as a model for his Russian school of composers.
In point of fact, the revolutionary uses to which Berlioz put orchestral instruments in his compositions cannot be gainsayed, and his compositions, as well has the Treatise, served to redefine orchestral possibilities - and serve as a learning tool for subsequent composers - for the remainder of the 19th century and well into the 20th century. He was an inveterate "tinkerer," in terms of constantly assessing and writing for newly-invented instruments of his era, and, as well, he "borrowed" instruments freely from military bands of his time, to create orchestral "sound worlds" that were new and novel.
As the Treatise demonstrates, Berlioz was no mere dilletante, experimenting in willy-nilly ways, but was in fact thoroughly "grounded" in his understanding of such basic principles as acoustics and the creation of sound. In its original French form (virtually all of which, in translation, survives in this revised edition), the Treatise clearly set out all of these principles, applied to the instruments of his time by means of examples drawn from a wide range of musical compositions, and the French-language original seemed not to have been a problem for all the German, Russian, Italian, English and what-have-you composers who learned from it.
A half-century later, in 1904, Richard Strauss was requested to review and "revise and update" the Treatise by the publisher. It is in this form, with emendations by Strauss and translated ably into English, that the Treatise currently exists. Needless to say, familiarity with musical notation is important if one is to fully appreciate the value of the Treatise. But the narrative, including descriptions-in-words of musical examples of individual instruments and instruments used in various combinations, is clear enough that even those not knowledgeable in musical notation can bypass the notated examples and simply read the narrative with benefit. Berlioz was an exceedingly gifted writer, blessed with clarity in all that he wrote.
Strauss's emendations are rather clearly set out separately from Berlioz's original effort, so that the two do not get confused. By and large, Strauss doesn't trample too much on Berlioz's efforts, but deals with instruments not available to Berlioz, with many of his own examples drawn from the works of Richard Wagner. But Strauss's comparative measures of - and prejudices regarding - Berlioz and Wagner as composers are quite well established in his own separate Foreword.
The most recent instrument invention included in Strauss's emendations is the heckelphone (baritone oboe), which invention Strauss commissioned Wilhelm Heckel for Strauss's use in his "Symphonia Domestica." Obviously, then, the Treatise is not the reference to which to turn for descriptions and applications of instruments that are of 20th century invention, nor, for that matter, instruments in use elsewhere than in Europe that subsequently found application in 20th century "Western" music (such as the Indonesian gamelan).
A side benefit of the Treatise is in its historical value as a repository of capabilities, sonorities, techniques and usages of instruments long deemed obsolete, but in current use during Berlioz's careers as composer and conductor. Where else can one find such a wealth of detail on instrumental esoterica and arcana like the ophicleide, bombardon and serpent (all forerunners of the tuba), as well as various instruments invented by the highly-creative Adophe Sax, inventor of the saxophone but also the various saxhorns, saxtrombas and saxtubas now obsolete? In fact, I could find only one oversight on Berlioz's part, that of the sarrusophone, invented by Auguste Sarrus, a contemporary "competitor" to Adophe Sax.
It's a small oversight. Unless, of course, one takes a personal interest in the sarrusophone and its musical possibilities. I happen to, but that's just me.
Anyone interested in the course of musical instrument usage and history should have this inexpensive Treatise in his or her library. If you can't read the musical notation and examples, you'll nonetheless come away with an excellent understanding of Berlioz's contributions to the field.
Bon anniversaire, M. Berlioz!
Bob Zeidler
Quite possibly the best book on music ever written!.......2000-04-02
Every time I open up this book I find something completly new and exciting. I have never seen an author(s) so enthusiastic about every instrument. Every instrument of the day (keep in mind that it was written in the 1840's and later revised in c. 1900) gets special attention with music examples from great composers like the authors and Wagner. Each musical selection is shown in its full score so that the reader/listener can get a better image of what their reading about or hearing (the only way one can understand some of these examples is to go out and listen to these examples otherwise their just notes on a page). Quite possibly my favorite section is the one where Berlioz describes his "perfect" orchestra. It is one so massive that it sends chills down my spine! A must have for any music library.
Amazon.com
Few works of the programmatic variety have had the enduring popularity of Berlioz's
Symphonie Fantastique and Harold in Italy. Both paint vivid pictures (is there anything, in its genre, to match the "March to the Scaffold"?) and transport the listener. These scores are Dover Publications reprints of turn-of-the-century editions from Breitkopf & Hartel, Leipzig and are easy to follow.
Book Description
Complete, authoritative scores of two Romantic symphonic masterpieces show extra-musical themes of "program music" — and intuitive genius, Shakespearean passion of Berlioz. Includes Symphonie Fantastique "program." Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, 1900-1910 edition.
Customer Reviews:
A CLASSIC IN MUSIC LITERATURE!!!.......2007-01-10
IT IS A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE TO READ THE BEST OF HECTOR BERLIOZ'S MUSIC. HIS SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE AND HAROLD IN ITALY, IN A HANDSOME BOOK (GOOD PRICE, CLEARLY WRITTEN, WITH ALL BERLIOZ'S FOOTNOTES).
IT IS A FAITHFUL EDITION, VERY WELL PRINTED, GOOD PRICE, AND FAST DELIVERED BY AMAZON.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL HECTOR BERLIOZ'S FANS.
Symphonie Fantastique score is Fantastic!!.......2003-07-30
If you're like me, listening to the Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique" along with the full orchestral score only adds to your enjoyment and appreciation of this revolutionary masterpiece. This Dover score is both beautifully printed and economical. I really appreciate the fact that the score also includes the obbligato cornet part heard in the 2nd mvt "Un Bal".
Also included is "Harold in Italy".
Highly recommended.
Has some errors.......2002-03-04
Yes, it's a great bargain. BUT, be careful - the Symphonie Fantstique portion of this score is taken from the early Breitkopf plates and is full of errors!
A Masterpiece.......2001-11-18
I love this piece! The score is just as great! It's a big print, so it's easy to read and to write in between staff lines and systems. It folds flat really easily and very durable. A must for any music student.
Romance in full score.......2000-09-18
The whole "Fantastic synfonia" is surely a thing all music students tending towards the romantic era should have a look into, having also the charming "Harold.." inside, makes it still better. As all "Dower's" this one is accurate, and contains informative editor's notes on the last pages(at least my score has them), something great to peer into.. Five stars!
Book Description
The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz has long been considered to be among the best of musical autobiographies.
Like his massive compositions, Berlioz (1803-69) was colorful, eloquent, larger than life. His book is both an account of his important place in the rise of the Romantic movement and a personal testament. He tells the story of his liaison with Harriet Smithson, and his even more passionate affairs of the mind with Shakespeare, Scott, and Byron. Familiar with all the great figures of the age, Berlioz paints brilliant portraits of Liszt, Wagner, Balzac, Weber, and Rossini, among others. And through Berlioz's intimate and detailed self-revelation, there emerges a profoundly sympathetic and attractive man, driven, finally, by his overwhelming creative urges to a position of lonely eminence.
For this new Everyman's edition of
The Memoirs, the translator--the composer's most admired biographer--has completely revised the text and the extensive notes to take into account the latest research.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic.......2005-12-10
This is a rare, surprisingly lucid, firsthand account of the life of one of the most influential and innovative composers in history. Descriptions of contemporaries, the artist's balance of art/business, and the intimate history of specific works (Fantastique, Harold, Faust, Les Troyens, etc) are valuable to those interested in classical music and period history.
Why Not Go Directly To The Source?.......2002-05-05
The inimitable Hector Berlioz was a prolific writer (perhaps he missed his true calling). His memoirs are an irresistible and captivating read, giving us an all too brief window into his life-long struggles, both personally and professionally. Cairns did a bang-up job at translation (no real complaints here) and the Everyman's edition is splendidly printed.
The Importance Of Being Hector: First Thoughts........2002-05-03
Anyone familiar with the works of Oscar Wilde will of course know where the "take-off" above comes from. And how trenchantly - even scathingly - funny that particular work is, even to the point where some folks have fun citing extended passages at will, out loud, just for the "yuks" it contains. Well, add "The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz" to that short list.
I am now barely 100 pages into this screamer, after having recently concluded reading the magisterial and sympathetic two-volume biography of Berlioz by David Cairns (who also provides the perfect translation of these Memoirs). Frankly, I wasn't sure that I could handle "yet more Berlioz" so soon after finishing the Cairns volumes (although Cairns provided plenty of justification, in terms of his ability to pinpoint Berlioz's scathing wit).
I shouldn't have worried.
Berlioz is certainly famous among music lovers, and musicians and composers, for a long list of "firsts": The first to take the proto-Romantic beginnings started so auspiciously by Beethoven to new heights, the first to expand the size (and instruments) of the classical orchestra to something closely resembling today's symphony orchestra, the first to write a detailed study on the uses of the instruments in the orchestra, including the effects of venue acoustics on the orchestra's sound... It's a long list, and this is just a part of it.
But Berlioz was also a brilliant writer. Inter alia, his "feuilletons" (music & arts criticism for the cultural journals of his time) and his "Evenings in the Orchestra" (including several of his better feuilletons) showed both his brilliance as a writer on the arts and his scathing wit. And that wit comes across as well in his Memoirs, as can be evidenced by this example on his very first page:
"Needless to say, I was brought up in the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome. This charming religion (so attractive since it gave up burning people) was for seven whole years the joy of my life, and although we have long since fallen out I have always kept most tender memories of it. Indeed, such is its appeal for me that had I the misfortune to be born into the bosom of one of those schisms ponderously hatched by Luther or Calvin I should undoubtedly abjured it the moment I was able..."
It gets even better later on, and the Memoirs are very well served by Cairns's idiomatic translation that so perfectly captures the trenchantly ascerbic writing qualities of which Berlioz was so capable. (Apparently, earlier translations, whether due to "bowdlerization" or simple lack of supporting documents, did not succeed to the same degree in capturing all of these qualities.)
Berlioz started these Memoirs while in his mid-40's and while in London for performances of his works and finding himself with some spare time. From then until the end of his life two decades later, he would add to them, with the express requirement that they be published posthumously. There is no need to "wonder why" at this requirement: He had something to say about nearly everything and everybody in the world of music and culture of his time, and wasn't afraid to "name names." And good for him!
I hope to have more (but not too much more) to say about these alternately hilarious and moving Memoirs once I've finished them. In the meantime, I hope that these brief comments serve to whet your appetite for one of the best books ever written about music by a musician. And a suitably famous one at that. This hardcover version is inexpensive and beautifully bound; a worthwhile addition to every music lover's library.
Bob Zeidler
Excellent - but not the best translation.......1999-10-09
The other reviews pretty much sum up the qualities of Berlioz's writing. Like others, I find is prose more inviting than his music. Immensely candid, entertaining and wonderfully written, it would be a great shame if only musicians were to read it - it's enjoyable on so many levels. The only reason I decided to write this was to urge anyone thinking of buying it to get hold of David Cairns' more modern translation. It reads far more fluently and somehow seems to get inside Berlioz's character in a way that the older translation doesn't. It also has among the appendices a valuable dissection of the contentious points and parts where Berlioz was economical with the truth.
Musician & Story Teller, Berlioz surprises and delights.......1999-02-15
Is this guy for real?! Hector Berlioz seems too amazing to be true: I knew he was a superb music composer but I applaud him even more as an enchanting story teller. I should have guessed that the man who came up with the Symphonie Fantastique (a symphony with a story plot) could recount the extraordinary events of his life with such vivacity and good timing. And he did have some extraordinary events in his life. Exuberant, tortured, starving, successful, in love, angered, whatever the state of Berlioz's life, he lived it fully. At times soap opera-esque (I almost fell over reading about how he plotted to dress up as a maid and kill his faithless fiance), this book was a true joy to read. Thanks, Berlioz!
Average customer rating:
- Darn Good Illustrations and a Nice Story Too
- Bravo, Berlioz!
- Another Jan Brett Favourite
- Whimiscal and lovely book!
- Great Art, Good Story
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Berlioz the Bear
Jan Brett
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ASIN: 0698113993 |
Customer Reviews:
Darn Good Illustrations and a Nice Story Too.......2007-04-01
I've never heard the name Berlioz before reading this book. Oh well, that's no big deal. Berlioz proves to be a likeable guy, even though he doesn't really do anything. He doesn't come up with a great plan to save the day or anything. In fact, he CAUSES the conflict of the story. You see, he's all worried about the performance he and his band have to give and he's not paying attention to the road. He's lucky he doesn't run a stop sign and get hit by a train. Instead he get stuck in a pothole. A bunch of folks offer to help pull him out but no one succeeds. Then a little bee ends up saving the day. And that seems to be the story of Berlioz the Bear.
Bravo, Berlioz!.......2004-07-12
This is a cute little story. Berlioz is late for a concert and having trouble with his double bass to boot (a strange and unwanted buzzing noise accompanies his playing). The bandwagon gets stuck in a pot hole and the draft donkey just won't budge. A series of animals in increasing order of size and strength--from a rooster to an ox--think they are the solution, but all fail to move the donkey. In a surprising twist we discover the source of Berlioz' bass's buzzing and the donkey suddenly finds motivation. As a result, they make it on time and we learn that the ability to effect change does not always depend on size and strength. Very nicely illustrated. Each lavish page is framed with marginal drawings which show you the country folk gathering at the village in preparation for Berlioz' concert. This is a nice touch and heightens the drama. There's something almost Aesopian about this delightful book. Highly recommended; a great bed-time story.
Another Jan Brett Favourite.......2004-06-04
My 5 year-old daughter loves this book. Not only are the illustrations fascinating and detailed as in all of Brett's books, but the story is very charming and funny. The surprise ending will make you and your child giggle for certain.
Whimiscal and lovely book!.......2004-02-05
This is another fun book that my toddlers love to read ~~ ok, have mom read to them. This one is fun to read ~~ with a band of traveling bears. They are getting ready to play at a ball in a nearby town when their wagon hits a hole in the ground and a wheel gets stuck ~~ then their donkey decides to sit. A bunch of animals offer to help but none of them were strong enough to get the wagon of bears out of the hole. Till an angry bumblebee flies out of one of the instruments and stings the donkey into action.
How clever is that! If my toddlers were older, I know they would laugh with glee. I did!
This is another book to add to your collection of Jan Brett's books ~~ she's a guarantee when it comes to entertaining children and their parents with beautifully illustrated books and wonderful storylines.
2-4-04
Great Art, Good Story.......2000-09-11
Brett delivers another book that is richly illustrated and holds the attention of young children.
The story is a simple tale of a bear and his band on their way to a concert. The wagon gets stuck and a menagerie of creatures tries to get them out of their rut. It introduces a number of different animals, which aided our two year old in identifying about a dozen of the "must know" four legged creatures.
The illustrations accompanying Brett's story are terriffic, with vivid colors and rich detail. Each page also has sidebars that foreshadow what's coming next and what has just happened. This prooves to be an excellent technique to keep youngsters in tune with the tale.
My children like it, almost as much as Brett's other book, "The Mitten." A good purchase for the 2-6 year old set.
Book Description
In this abridgment of his monumental study, Berlioz and the Romantic Century, Jacques Barzun recounts the events and extraordinary achievements of the great composer's life against the background of the romantic era. As the author eloquently demonstrates, Berloiz was an archetype whose destiny was the story of an age, the incarnation of an artistic style and a historical spirit. "In order to understand the nineteenth century, it is essential to understand Berlioz," notes W. H. Auden, "and in order to understand Berlioz, it is essential to read Professor Barzun."
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful, comprehensive narrative.......2005-03-22
Jacques Barzun is an unapologetic advocate of great men (and women) and, in one of his most subtle philosophical veins, he has here comprehensively treated Berlioz as such an entity- rather than a style, technique, or eccentric- within the contemporary and personal world that the composer occupied and was occupied by.
The designation of Berlioz, along with Keats, as The Romantic Genius, has cemented his place in the general surveys of musical and 19th century history. Sustained equally by the overly-emphasized program of "Symphonie Fantastique" and the easily recountable breaking of his engagement to Camille Moke- Berlioz as a Personality could be as easily subsumed in a general, genteely eccentric, demi-Napoleonic, bohemian Romantic "character".
Barzun does not reject the singleness of the Romantic era, as he might have done, in questioning the existence of such an all-encompassing character for it; but explains the depth, the real pragmatism and sense of great morality, on all sides, by which the new generations of necessarily market-dependant artists were precluded by the more aristocratic-minded institutions that fostered them. Berlioz stood in the earliest of these generations, and emerges from his environment sympathetically human. If the embodiment of a period in a single person is a cause for endless fascination (and, barring that, assignation), it is also a cause for beaurocratic tedium, financial pandering, and occasional compositions.
Barzun, having managed in one of his more recent works to extradite John Calvin from the morass of that leader's legacy, deserves admiration for the still more formidable task, in this work, of sorting out the arguments of the last two centuries concerning artistic prerogative, if not for happening yet on their solution.
"Berlioz and His Century" consequently retains (like all of Barzun's narratives) both historical importance and present relevance in the full extent of its range, while remembering the real and finite experiences of the individual figures who made their times important and relevant.
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Les Nuits d'ete: Complete Song Cycle in Full Score and Vocal Score
Hector Berlioz
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Symphonie Fantastique and Harold in Italy in Full Score
ASIN: 0486426653 |
Book Description
Settings of "Summer Nights," poems by Théophile Gautier, with French, English, and German singing texts. Contents: 1. "Villanelle" (popular street song); 2. "Le spectre de la rose" (The wraith of a rose); 3. "Sur les lagunes" (On the lagoons); 4. "Absence"; 5. "Au cimetière" (In the graveyard); and "L'île inconnue" (The unknown island).
Book Description
In this masterpiece of "program" music — a genre invented by the composer — an obsessed musician is overcome by increasingly bizarre visions of his lover. This miniature score version is handy, inexpensive, and perfect for use in the classroom or concert hall.
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