Berlioz first visited London between November 1847 and July 1848. On Monday 7 February 1848 he gave his first concert there; it consisted entirely of his own compositions, and took place at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (his second concert took place months later, at Hanover Square Gardens on 29 June). This page reproduces a review of that first concert published in the Illustrated London News on 12 February. The same issue of the ILN also contained a biographical article on Berlioz, which is reproduced on a separate page. Although neither this article nor the review are signed, they are very likely to be by Charles Gruneisen, a writer and critic based in London who had been friendly with Berlioz for some time before the composer first came to London. Berlioz thanked Gruneisen immediately after the publication of the journal. The text of the review and the accompanying image have been scanned from our copy of the issue of 12 February 1848 of the Illustrated London News.
There is also another review of the same concert published the day after the concert in The Times on 8 February, a transcription of which is published on a separate page on this site.
Both reviews can be compared with a letter of Berlioz to his friend Auguste Morel of 12 February commenting on the concert; this letter is also reproduced on this site.
The Hector Berlioz Website was created by Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin on 18 July 1997; this page created on 1 April 2006.
© Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin. All rights of reproduction reserved.
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