The music in France during the Romantic era - Louis-Hector Berlioz

Berlioz is born December 11, 1803 in La Côt-Sainte-Adre in the Iser area, and died on March 8, 1869. in Paris. He is considered to be one of the greatest representatives of European Romanticism, although he himself refuses to be called a romantic because in his view, this definition does not mean anything. In fact, he is conceived as a classic composer. It is known that the music he created does not respect the laws of harmony, but this indictment does not endure if his scores are read carefully. The paradox is that we find that Berlioz respects the historical foundations of harmony in the 16th century, but does not respect the later rules that argue that they do not have aesthetic justification. Berlioz originates from an old family whose roots are in the Dauphin area: his father, Louis Berlioz, is a doctor, and his mother, Antoinette-Josephine Marmion, is a zealous Catholic. At age 6, the child, Ector, was sent to study at a seminary. After its closure in 1811 the father decides to direct his son to another career - to become a doctor. He still hired a private music teacher to introduce his son to singing and playing the flute. Twelve years later, Ector began composing. Recorded at the then Medical School in Paris, the son left his family and followed a year to study as a doctor. Finally, he wrote a letter to his father that he prefers art to medicine: "I felt that my strong appeal to music grew and my desire to satisfy your desire was prevailing." After joining his family, Ector began to visit the Paris Opera regularly and followed the instructions from the beginning to Jean-François Lüsührer and then to Antoine Reyha.

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His musical training is still modest, but he starts playing the guitar and a small bassoon. He was soon attracted by the Parisian life during the Restoration of the Bourbones (1815-1830), a period in France marked by a powerful spiritual upsurge in his culture. In 1823 studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1824 writes "Sagittarius," discovered Weber, and in 1826 failed in the competition for the Roman Academy. He continued his studies at the Conservatory (whose orchestra was conducted by Maestro Luigi Kerubini at that time). Since then his teacher Ataan Reyah has mastered the art of the joint and the counterpoint, and his other teacher, Leosyour, the composition. Presents to the jury his cant "The Death of Orpheus," but it is judged to be "unfeasible". During a performance of Hamlet, he discovers Shakespeare and fervently falls in love with Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who he married in 1833. Later, Berlioz discovers Goethe and his Faust: in the translation of Gerard de Nerval, he first wrote "Eight scenes from Faust", and later (1846) he created the dramatic legend "The Curse of Faust". He is deeply excited by the performance by Francois-Antoine Ablenek on the symphonies of Beethoven (1828). In 1830 just 6 years after Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, whom he studied Berlioz began writing "Symphonie fantastique" (Opus 14), which gave rise to the enthusiasm of Ferenc Liszt, but caused a big scandal in the audience that could not immediately appreciate the significance of this work: this work will revive the fashion of "programm or discriminative music" and will be continued in German music (Liste, Richard Strauss) and French music (Saint-Sans, Duque, Cesar Frank). Since 1834 Berlioz becomes known as a music critic thanks to his active collaboration in Gazette Musicale and finally to the Journal des dibats in which he defends his musical system and subordinates the harmony of expression .

In 1831 Berlioz won the prestigious Rome Prize with his quotation "The Last Night of Sardanal", after which he lived in the French Academy of Rome (Villa Medici). In Italy he meets Mendelssohn, but this country inspires and disappoints him at the same time. His stay in Rome (1831-1832) inspired him to write "Lelio or Return to Life", "King Lir" and to compose "Harold in Italy" (1834), a play for alt and orchestra, at the request of Paganini according to the poem of Lord Byron. In 1835, Berlioz became a regular musical critic at the Journal of Debate, where his articles were remembered, but also created many enemies. He signed his articles in this newspaper until 1864. In 1838, Berlioz composed for his Paris Grand Opera his "Benvenuto Chelini", but against this work is organized an enemy constellation and it suffers a failure. But his engagements in the library of the Paris Conservatoire and the accolade that Paganini has taught him allow him to write the opera "Romeo and Juliet" (1839), which provokes the enthusiasm of Richard Wagner. In the period 1840-1841, Berlioz composes the "Triumphal and Mourning Symphony", the Summer Nights Cycle (by Theofil Gautier's poetry) for a voice and piano, which later will adapt to the orchestra. In those years his prestige as a conductor is greater than his renown as a composer, both in France and abroad. He performs his own works and works by his fellow composers in Belgium, Germany, England, Hungary and Russia, along with his new wife, singer Marie Recio (stage name Marie Marten). The advent of the Childhood of Christ (1864) is an indisputable triumph for Berlioz. His stay in England is particularly fruitful. Berlioz conducted the orchestra of Drewie Lane (London), whose conductor and composer was Louis Antoine Julien, king of garden concerts and crowd outdoor concerts. In 1847 on the advice of his friend Balzac, who had ended up with no money, Berlioz took a tour of Russia and achieved triumphs in St. Petersburg and Moscow. He is housed in the house of the great princess Elena, who enjoys a glamorous reception. His concerts are in the Hall of Nobles, in which he played 12 times. It is said that after the first bisex he exclaimed, "I am saved! "And after the second one -" I am rich!
In 1856 Berlioz began composing his "opus magnum," titled "The Trojans," a libretto inspired by Vergilius' "Aeneida". The genesis of this creation was set in his early childhood, as the influence of Vergilius and Shakespeare was constantly reviving him. The Trojan was completed two years later, but he did not manage to put it in full, as the administrators are afraid of its duration and the necessary means to implement it. In the last years of his life, Berlioz created the comic opera "Beatrice and Benedict" on the plot of Shakespeare's comedy "A lot of noise for nothing". After Marie's death, and then to his son Louis, he became ill. After his triumphant tour in Russia, his influence is felt in the music of the Russian composers Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin. Berlioz died on 8 March 1869 in Paris, Kale 4, in the neighborhood of New Athens. He is buried in the cemetery of Montmartre next to his two wives Harriet Smithson and Marie Recio. In Berlioz's work, the thematic influence of Beethoven and Shakespeare, whose motifs often intertwine in his works, as well as his commitment to French music from the Revolution and the Empire, which is evidenced by his Gluck appeal, is clearly felt. He is a great romantic, with his destructive humor, the rigor of handwriting and the ultimate exaltation in performance. His works are gradually released from the then academic norm and are orchestrated with a striking wealth of timbre and color. He builds a musical handwriting based on his personal perception of the counterpoint, which shows his passion for voluminous orchestral compositions. His urge to maintain his freedom as an artist leads him to release him from the lyrics he carries in his music by remodeling them radically like Wagner.

At a time when in Europe they perceive Berlioz as a romantic hero, he treats him as an enemy in Paris, because at that time in France the music is under the care of politicians and ruling royalists. Thus, when Berlioz entered into a contract with the Ministry of Fine Arts to write Messa in memory of the dead, the supporters of Kerubini, then the director of the Paris Conservatory, made a lot of effort (albeit in vain) to fail his contract. When, after three months, Berlioz finished his work, the minister, without explanation, canceled the concert, which was supposed to be the new meats. Berlioz's Requiem, however, gets its chance to be filled in public in December 1837. in the small Inside Church (the Chapel of the Invalids) lit by thousands of candles in the presence of the royal family, the diplomatic corps and the aristocratic elite of Paris. Berlioz managed to attract 190 instrumentalists, 210 choristers, four pieces of copper instruments (trumpets), located in the 4 corners of the Chapel, as well as 16 chinales.