Hector Berlioz
Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy, choral pieces including the Requiem and L'Enfance du Christ, his three operas Benvenuto Cellini, Les Troyens and Béatrice et Bénédict, and works of hybrid genres such as the "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette and the "dramatic legend" La Damnation de Faust. The elder son of a provincial doctor, Berlioz was expected to follow his father into medicine, and he attended a Parisian medical college before defying his family by taking up music as a profession. His independence of mind and refusal to follow traditional rules and formulas put him at odds with the conservative musical establishment of Paris. He briefly moderated his style sufficiently to win France's premier music prize – the Prix de Rome – in 1830, but he learned little from the academics of the Paris Conservatoire. Opinion was divided for many years between those who thought him an original genius and those who viewed his music as lacking in form and coherence. At the age of twenty-four Berlioz fell in love with the Irish Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson, and he pursued her obsessively until she finally accepted him seven years later. Their marriage was happy at first but eventually foundered. Harriet inspired his first major success, the Symphonie fantastique, in which an idealised depiction of her occurs throughout. Berlioz completed three operas, the first of which, Benvenuto Cellini, was an outright failure. The second, the huge epic Les Troyens (The Trojans), was so large in scale that it was never staged in its entirety during his lifetime. His last opera, Béatrice et Bénédict – based on Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing – was a success at its premiere but did not enter the regular operatic repertoire. Meeting only occasional success in France as a composer, Berlioz increasingly turned to conducting, in which he gained an international reputation. He was highly regarded in Germany, Britain and Russia both as a composer and as a conductor. To supplement his earnings he wrote musical journalism throughout much of his career; some of it has been preserved in book form, including his Treatise on Instrumentation (1844), which was influential in the 19th and 20th centuries. Berlioz died in Paris at the age of 65. |
Birth and Death Data: Born December 11, 1803 (La Côte-Saint-André), Died March 8, 1869 (Paris)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1903 - 1947
Roles Represented in DAHR: composer, librettist, arranger
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 1-25 of 119 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | B-874 | 10-in. | 12/23/1903 | Serenade | Pol Plançon | Bass vocal solo, with piano | composer | |
Victor | B-2385 | 10-in. | 3/21/1905 | Rákoczy march | Arthur Pryor's Band | Band | composer | |
Victor | B-2635-B | 10-in. | 6/15/1905 | Damnation of Faust : Minuet and presto | Sousa's Band | Band | composer | |
Victor | C-2635-A | 12-in. | 6/15/1905 | Reminiscences of Berlioz, part 1 | Sousa's Band | Band | composer | |
Victor | C-2635-C | 12-in. | 6/15/1905 | Damnation of Faust : Hungarian march | Sousa's Band | Band | composer | |
Victor | B-3024 | 10-in. | 1/23/1906 | Serenade Mephistopheles | Pol Plançon ; Victor Orchestra | Bass vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | B-4205 | 10-in. | 1/8/1907 | Chanson de la puce | Marcel Journet | Bass vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | B-4206 | 10-in. | 1/8/1907 | Voici des roses | Marcel Journet | Bass vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BVE-4207 | 10-in. | 10/19/1925 | Mephistopheles' serenade | Marcel Journet | Bass vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | B-4207 | 10-in. | 1/8/1907 | La damnation de Faust : Serenade | Marcel Journet | Bass vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | C-4344 | 12-in. | 3/27/1907 | Voici des roses | Pol Plançon | Bass vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | B-4345 | 10-in. | 3/27/1907 | Chanson de la puce | Pol Plançon | Bass vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | C-6447 | 12-in. | 9/23/1908 | Carnaval romain | Arthur Pryor's Band | Band | composer | |
Victor | C-8523 | 12-in. | 12/30/1909 | Hungarian march | Sousa's Band | Band | composer | |
Victor | C-12614 | 12-in. | 11/14/1912 | Carnaval romain overture | Victor Concert Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | C-13721 | 12-in. | 9/3/1913 | Serenata, deh vieni alla finestra [from Don Giovanni] (Open thy window) | Henri Gilles ; Emilio de Gogorza | Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra and piano | composer | |
Victor | B-20692 | 10-in. | 9/21/1917 | Valse des sylphes | Victor Symphony Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | C-20819 | 12-in. | 10/3/1917 | Hungarian march | Boston Symphony Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | B-20823 | 10-in. | 10/5/1917 | Ballet des sylphes | Boston Symphony Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | C-21206 | 12-in. | 11/26/1917 | Woodwinds | Victor Orchestra | Instructional | composer | |
Victor | B-22878 | 10-in. | 5/28/1919 | Voici des roses | Georges Baklanoff | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | C-24749 | 12-in. | 12/22/1920 | Rákóczy Hungarian march | Teatro alla Scala Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | B-25534 | 10-in. | 8/26/1921 | Dance of the sylphs | Victor Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | B-26319 | 10-in. | 4/25/1922 | Rákoczy march | Guy Maier ; Lee Pattison | Piano duet | composer | |
Victor | B-27026 | 10-in. | 10/13/1922 | Mephistopheles' serenade | Titta Ruffo | Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra | composer |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Berlioz, Hector," accessed October 7, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102481.
Berlioz, Hector. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved October 7, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102481.
"Berlioz, Hector." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 7 October 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Hector Berlioz
Discogs: Hector Berlioz
Allmusic: Hector Berlioz
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Britannica: Hector Berlioz
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Berlioz, Hector, 1803-1869 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79091197
Wikidata: Hector Berlioz - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1151
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/71577105
MusicBrainz: Hector Berlioz - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/274774a7-1cde-486a-bc3d-375ec54d552d
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