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This page is also available in French
As well as being a great musician and composer, Berlioz was a prolific and versatile writer. Other sections of this site reproduce different parts of his literary output: excerpts in English and French from his Treatise on Orchestration; the complete text (in the original French) of his essay on the Art of Conducting; the complete text (in the original French) of the nearly 400 feuilletons he wrote for the Journal des Débats between 1834 and 1863; and some of his articles in other journals (see the page Berlioz: contemporary performances and articles). Numerous excerpts from his remarkable correspondence, one of the major sources for the cultural history of 19th century Europe, are cited in many parts of this site, both in the original French and in English translation; a full chronological listing of these excerpts is provided in a separate index page (in both English and French).
This section deals with Berlioz’s other writings, namely his five published books: the Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie (2 volumes, 1844), Les Soirées de l’Orchestre (1852, 2nd edition 1854), Les Grotesques de la Musique (1859), À Travers Chants (1862) and the posthumous Mémoires (1870).
The text of the first of these books to be published by Berlioz, the Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie, is not reproduced here. The reason is that most of the work was re-used by Berlioz in his subsequent books, which in practice superseded the earlier work and made it obsolete. But a separate page gives a detailed introduction to the work and its history, with citation of relevant excerpts from the composer’s correspondence. It then provides in tabulated form an outline of its contents, with references both to the original sources on which it drew and to the re-utlisation of its various chapters in subsequent works.
For the four other books the full French text is reproduced. In addition for each work there is a list of reference editions in the page Berlioz: Musical and Literary Works; a detailed bibliography, for which we are indebted to our friend Pepijn van Doesburg; a page which cites relevant passages in the composer’s correspondence and outlines the history of the work’s composition; and there is a separate search engine that covers all four works and is distinct from the search engine for the site as a whole.
Note: while obvious typographical or other errors of the original editions have been corrected, the spelling of Berlioz’s own time has been retained (for example poëte for poète, contre-basse for contrebasse, entr’acte for entracte, rhythme for rythme etc.). The reference in a few footnotes to the editor [note de l’éditeur] refers to Michel Austin.
The listing for each work is as follows:
Les Soirées de l’Orchestre (1852)The text reproduced here is substantially that of the second edition of 1854, except that three passages found in the first edition (1852) but omitted in the second have been reinstated here: a paragraph on Spontini in the thirteenth evening, the review of Pigeon vole in the eighteenth, and a sentence on Costa in the second epilogue.
Bibliography by Pepijn van Doesburg.
Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (French text, with introduction in English).
Les Grotesques de la Musique (1859)The text reproduced here is that of the first edition of 1859 (see an image of the title page). Unlike Berlioz’s other literary works Les Grotesques was not divided by the author into separate sections; here the work has been set out in eight consecutive parts prefaced by the Prologue.
Bibliography by Pepijn van Doesburg.
Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (French text, with introduction in English).
A Travers Chants (1862)The text reproduced here is that of the first edition of 1862 (see an image of the title page).
Bibliography by Pepijn van Doesburg.
Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (French text, with introduction in English).
Mémoires (1870)The text reproduced here is that of the first edition of 1870 (see an image of the title page).
Bibliography by Pepijn van Doesburg.
Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (French text).
The Hector Berlioz Website was created by Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin on 18 July 1997.
À Travers Chants page created on 1 May 2005
Les Soirées de l’Orchestre page created on 1 July 2005
Les Grotesques de la Musique page created on 1 October 2005
Mémoires page created on 1 December 2005
Search function created on 16 June 2007.
This page revised on 1st December 2022.
© Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb. All rights of reproduction are reserved.
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