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The great 19th century French composer Hector Berlioz holds a unique place in musical history. Far ahead of his time, he was one of the most original of great composers, but also an innovator as a practical musician, and a writer and critic whose literary achievement is hardly less significant than his musical output. Few musicians have ever excelled in all these different fields at once.
Available in English and French, this personal site is devoted to the music, life and works of this great figure. Created, funded and authored by two British academics, the site gives a panoramic view of Berlioz’s life and art, and seeks to recreate the context in which he worked. It also presents regularly updated news on everything which concerns Berlioz: performances of his music world-wide, bibliography, discography, reviews of live performances and contributions from regular visitors to the site. The table below maps out the contents of the site in detail. A separate page provides a short history of the site.
Please note that our site is entirely independent and does not represent or host any organisation or association.
Copyright notice: The Hector Berlioz Website is owned by Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb. The texts, photos, images and musical scores on all pages of this site are covered by UK Law and International Law. All rights of publication, reproduction, or adaptation of this material in any form, including Web page use, are reserved. Their use without our explicit permission is illegal.
Last update: 1 November 2024 (the date is linked to the page Updates of the website)
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Table of contents of this site: (a red asterisk (*) indicates an addition or update within the last four weeks)
See also the French version of the site
An invitation extended to all of youWe would like to invite you to contact us and tell us about events, news, publications, concerts or any other information related to Hector Berlioz in your community, so that we can circulate them among Berlioz admirers around the world via this site.
May we take this opportunity to thank our visitors who have emailed us their contributions, comments, and feedback. They have all been thanked individually on the site as well via their email address.
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Who we are and how to contact usThis personal site is the result of a private initiative by the husband and wife team of Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb, both academics by profession, based in universities in Scotland, and sharing a common enthusiasm for Hector Berlioz and his achievements. Created in July 1997, and gradually expanded subsequently, the site is entirely devoted to the genius of Berlioz – his music, his writings, his career in France and abroad, and his contribution to musical history.
The site is entirely independent of any organisation; it is run and maintained by us at our own expense. It is non-profit-making, does not receive sponsorship or financial support from any quarter, and does not accept any commercial advertising.
Through this site we hope to share and exchange information and news on Berlioz-related events with Berlioz’s admirers around the world. We are most grateful to our friends and visitors for their support and look forward to enjoying their continued encouragement in the future. We would particularly like to thank our friends Pepijn van Doesburg, Pierre-René Serna and Christian Wasselin for their major contributions to the site.
Monir Tayeb died suddenly on 30 July 2021. To commemorate her achievement, two new pages have been added to this site (1 October 2021): Monir Tayeb Academic Page, a page she compiled herself some years ago to summarise her academic career, and Monir and Berlioz, which outlines her contribution to the Berlioz website over a period of 24 years (see also the entry of the Hector Berlioz Museum in memory of Monir Tayeb [in French]). Michel Austin will continue to manage the website for the foreseeable future. In the longer term the website will form part of a bequest to St Anne’s College, Oxford, which has generously undertaken to preserve its continued availability on the internet as a closed archive which would no longer be updated, but would contain all the texts, documents and images currently available on the site, together with their search facility.
Please address your contributions, feedback and enquiries to Michel Austin at the address below:
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The Hector Berlioz Website was created by Monir Tayeb and Michel
Austin on 18 July 1997.
The French version of the Home Page (Page
d’accueil) was created on 3 March 2002. See also Online
Site History.
© Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin. All rights of reproduction reserved.
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