Berlioz, Rome 1832

~ 1832, in Rome ~

~ CONTENTS ~
[Click on an underlined Part No heading to hear a brief excerpt.]

Part 1 Prologue: 1848. I start my memoirs in London, while unrest threatens Europe. ‘Close by, Ucalegon's house is already ablaze!’
Scene 1: 1803. I am born in the ordinary way: no laurels, no fanfares.
Scene 2: My education; Father introduces me to Virgil.
[Berlioz: La Mort d'Ophélie; Les Troyens, Acts II (Scenes 14-16), V (49-50); Villanelle; Le jeune pâtre breton]

Part 2 Scenes 3, 4: Concerning Napoleon; Uncle Felix; & Estelle.
Scene 5: The beginnings of my musical education.
[Berlioz: Les Troyens (Chasse royale et orage); Roméo et Juliette; Le spectre de la rose; Les francs-juges; Aubade; Saint-Saëns: Le Carnaval des animaux]

Part 3 Scene 6: Youthful composing.
Scene 7: 1848. A revolutionary interruption. Scene 8: A family dispute.
[Berlioz: La Mort de Cléopâtre; Symphonie fantastique; Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale; Gluck: Iphigénie en Aulide]

Part 4 Scenes 9, 10, 11: Concerning Weber; Shakespeare & Henriette Smithson; & Faust.
[Weber: Der Freischütz; Berlioz: La Mort d'Ophélie; Roméo et Juliette; Elégie en prose; Les Troyens, I (2); Le roi de Thulé]

Part 5 Scenes 12, 13, 14: Camille Moke; the Prix de Rome (fifth attempt); the 1830 Paris uprising; prize-giving rituals; Franz Liszt; betrayal by Camille! convalescence in Nice.
[Berlioz: Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale; Symphonie fantastique; Le roi Lear; Sara la baigneuse; La belle voyageuse; Liszt: Un sospiro]

Part 6 Scenes 15, 16, 17: Hector in Italy; the Captive.
[Berlioz: Harold en Italie; Intrata di Rob-Roy Macgregor; La captive]

Part 7 Scene 18: 1833. I persuade Henriette to marry me. Scene 19: 1840. I start my concert tours without her. Scene 20: Trials of the composer-conductor on tour.
[Berlioz: Lélio, ou le retour à la vie: Roméo et Juliette; Harold en Italie; Franz von Suppé: Poet and Peasant; Liszt: Mephisto Valse]

Part 8 Scenes 21, 22, 23: Concerning Chopin; Mendelssohn; & Robert & Clara Schumann.
[Chopin: Ballade Nº 4 in F minor; Robert Schumann: Liederkreis - Waldegespräch; Carnaval; Mendelssohn: Notturno; Fingal's Cave; Berlioz: Adieu, Bessy; Requiem - Offertorium; Clara Schumann: Prelude in D-minor]

Part 9 Scenes 24, 25: Concerning Wagner; Weber; & Beethoven.
[Wagner: Rienzi; Der fliegende Holländer; Tannhäuser; Weber: Der Freischütz; Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C#-minor; Symphony Nº 9]

Part 10 Scene 26: Exhausting preparations for a concert; to Nice again, to recuperate; reminiscences of Paganini.
[Beethoven: Symphony Nº 5; Berlioz: Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale; Le Corsaire; Paganini: Cantabile; Caprice Nº 6 in G-minor]

Part 11 Scenes 27, 28: Travels in Hungary & Bohemia; Liszt gives an inspired speech.
[Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust; Roméo et Juliette; Paganini: Violin Concerto Nº 2; Liszt: Rakoczy march; La campanella]

Part 12 Scenes 29, 30: During my travels, I work on The Damnation of Faust.
[Beethoven: Symphony Nº 5; Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini; Sérénae de Méphistophélès; La Damnation de Faust]

Part 13 Scene 31: A concert tour to St Petersburg & Moscow; reminders of Napoleon's Russian campaign.
[Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky; Rimsky-Korsakov: Mlada; Sadko; Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust; Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov; Glinka: A Life for the Tsar]

Part 14 Scene 32: Concerning obstacles in Paris, & appreciation in Germany.
[Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette; La Mort d'Ophélie; L'Enfance de Christ; Le roi Lear]

Part 15 Scene 33: Concerning my music.
[Berlioz: Requiem; Roméo et Juliette]

Part 16 Scene 34: Describing some momentous late events.
[Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust; Te Deum]

Part 17 Scene 35: I undertake my lifetime ambition: The Trojans.
[Berlioz: Les Troyens, I (5-6, 8), III (17, 25-26), IV (35-37), V (40-41)]

Part 18 Scene 36: The completion of The Trojans, & how things turned out.
[Berlioz: Les Troyens I (3), III (23-24), V (38)]

Part 19 Scene 37: Some consolations in Germany.
[Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict; Roméo et Juliette; Le roi Lear; Harold en Italie; Saint-Saëns: Fantaisie, Op 124]

Part 20 Scenes 38, 39, 40: Some farewells: Louis; Estelle; Uncle Felix.
[Berlioz: Le matin; Le spectre de la rose; Le chasseur danois; La Damnation de Faust; Roméo et Juliette]

Part 21 Scene 41: Finale. Remembrances of scenes past.
[Stravinsky: Petruschka - The Fair; Rimsky-Korsakov: Sadko, a musical picture; Paganini: Caprice No 6 in G-minor; Berlioz: Harold en Italie; Chant de la Fête de Pâques; Les Troyens, V (50); Le jeune pâtre breton]


23rd December 2010