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Composers create the music we listen to. Western music, even going back to the Middle Ages, has placed a great emphasis on the individual creators of music. An anonymous thirteenth century treatise, for example, compared two composers of an earlier generation, pointing out that one, Pérotin, was better in a certain style than his predecessor, Léonin. In the Renaissance, composers such as Josquin and Palestrina were hailed as "princes" of music. Closer to our time, composers in the nineteenth century were often treated as heroes and even as cult figures. The lives of these composers tell us a great deal about the history of music and the music they created.

HECTOR BERLIOZ

Born: December 11, 1813. La Côte-St-André, Isère, France
Died: March 8, 1869. Paris, France

In his own words...

"To render my works properly requires a combination of extreme precision and irresistible verve, a regulated vehemence, a dreamy tenderness, and an almost morbid melancholy." French composer, conductor and writer on music. Berlioz played a decisive role in the development of program music and modern orchestration.

The overwhelming majority of Romantic composers were pianists. Many, such as Chopin and Liszt, were virtuoso performers as well as composers. Hector Berlioz was a notable exception to this rule. In fact, he never studied piano. Berlioz was born to a well-to-do family and as a child learned flute and guitar and managed to teach himself the rudiments of harmony from his reading of textbooks. His parents sent him to Paris in 1821 to study medicine (his father was a doctor), but after two years (miserable years by Berlioz's account) he left his studies behind to attend classes at the conservatory.

During his studies at the conservatory, Berlioz competed for the Prix de Rome four times, finally winning it in 1830. It was in this same year that he wrote his most famous piece, the Symphonie fantastique. During this period, he was profoundly influenced by the music of Beethoven (whom he later championed as a critic) and the writings of Shakespeare, Goethe, and the English Romantics. He also came under the spell of the famous Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson; the story behind the Symphonie fantastique is in part a reflection of his uncontrollable feelings for her. He married her after his return from Rome, but it was a short-lived and troubled marriage. Nonetheless, these years were marked by a string of exceptional and original works, including the programmatic works Harold in Italy and Romeo and Juliet (the first essentially a viola concerto, the second a symphony), his gigantic Requiem and the opera Benvenuto Cellini.

These works were perhaps too original. They did not receive their just recognition and Berlioz turned to musical journalism to support himself. He also began extensive tours as a conductor. Despite the demands of this schedule, he also produced a series of mature masterpieces, among them the operas Les Troyens and Béatrice et Bénédict, the dramatic choral work The Damnation of Faust, and the oratorio L'enfance du Christ. His final years were marked by personal tragedy. This was compounded as Berlioz saw the ideals of French Romanticism overtaken by the growing influence of the new German school led by Wagner and others. He died at the age of sixty-seven.

Berlioz stands out for his innovative approach in almost all areas of composition.