Opera Scotland

Hector Berlioz Suggest updates

Louis-Hector Berlioz

Born La Côte St André, 11 December 1803.

Died Paris, 8 March 1869.

French composer and journalist.

Hector Berlioz was one of the most remarkabe composers of the first half of the nineteenth century. Major concert pieces such as the Symphonie Fantastique and the Grande Messe des Morts are astonishingly innovative. His operas, with the exception of Béatrice et Bénédict, were not performed satisfactorily in his lifetime. His operatic masterpiece, Les Troyens only came into its own quite recently, largely through performances in Britain, by Glasgow Grand, then Covent Garden and Scottish Opera.

Operas, oratorios and choral works performed in Scotland are shown in bold:-

Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem), op5 (Paris 1837) (Liturgy)

Benvenuto Cellini (Paris 1838, rev Weimar 1854) (de Wailly & Barbier)

Roméo et Juliette - Dramatic Symphony, op17 (Paris 1839) (Deschamps) 

Chant des Chemins de Fer - Cantata, op19 no3 (Lille 1846) (Janin)                                  

La damnation de Faust, op24 (Paris 1846) (cpsr & Gandonnière)

Te Deum, op22 (comp 1849; Paris 1855) (Liturgy)

L'enfance du Christ, op25 (Paris 1854) (cpsr)

Les Troyens I - La prise de Troie (1858; Karlsruhe 1892) (cpsr)

Les Troyens II - Les Troyens à Carthage (1858; Paris 1863) (cpsr)

Béatrice et Bénédict (Baden-Baden 1862) (cpsr)