| Series |
Musical lives
Musical lives. ^A389495
|
| Contents |
Initiation (1803-1830). A childhood of learning and love ; The medical student ; Cherubini's conservatoire ; Paying (for) concerts ; The paradoxical Prix de Rome ; The Symphonie fantastique -- Innovation (1830-1848). Revolution in France, reaction in Italy ; The composer in Paris ; Commissions for the nation ; Love and music ; On the campaign trail -- Introspection (1848-1869). Republican agitation and imperial redress ; Love, marriage, duty ; The irresistible Institut de France ; Dido, Beatrice, Shakespeare, and Marie ; A meaningful legacy. |
| Abstract |
Berlioz is the quintessential romantic composer by dint of the conspicuous intermingling of art and life that marks his musical and literary output. This book situates the celebrated French musician in the vibrant and highly politicized musical culture of the periods of the Bourbon Restoration, July Monarchy, Second Republic, and Second Empire in which he lived and worked as composer, conductor, concert manager, and writer. The author of the Symphonie fantastique was possessed of a fertile and fantastical imagination; he was indeed obsessed, at times, by love; but the common image of Berlioz as a misunderstood and mistreated genius (an image he did little to controvert) obscures both the solidity of his work as a musical architect and the reality of his position, explored here, as one sometimes favored by those in power. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-203) and index. |
| LCCN | 98003050 |
| ISBN | 0521480914 (hb) |
| ISBN | 0521485487 (pb) |
