Berlioz

Hector Louis Berlioz (1803–1869) was a French Romantic composer, conductor, and writer on music. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of program music and is noted for his innovative orchestration and large-scale works.

Born in La Côte-Saint-André, Isère, Berlioz initially studied medicine before devoting himself to music in Paris. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1830, which helped launch his career. His breakthrough came with the Symphonie fantastique (1830), a highly programmatic work inspired by his passion for the English actress Harriet Smithson; the symphony contains a now-famous idee fixe representing his beloved.

Berlioz composed several other major works, including Harold in Italy (a symphony with prominent solo viola), Roméo et Juliette (an overture-fantasy), and the Grande Messe des morts (Requiem). He also wrote La Damnation de Faust, and conceived the epic Les Troyens (The Trojans), an operatic project that remained incomplete in his lifetime but influenced later generations. He was an important contributor to French opera and orchestral music, and his treatise on instrumentation helped establish modern orchestration.

Despite a difficult early reception and limited immediate success in Paris, Berlioz’s music gained stature after his death, and his innovative orchestration, programmatic imagination, and national influence left a lasting mark on 19th-century music. He died in Paris in 1869.