Character Catalog

A masterpiece of musical Romanticism, this symphony in five movements depicts the hallucinations of a lovesick, desperate artist. It revolutionizes the symphonic form through the use of an 'idée fixe' and programmatic narrative.

A colossal work for orchestra and monumental choirs, commissioned by the State. It requires up to 400 performers and four brass orchestras positioned at the four corners of the performance space.

A symphony for solo viola and orchestra, inspired by Byron and the Italian landscapes. Commissioned by Paganini, it is a sonic tableau of dark and dreamy poetry.

A dramatic symphony for soloists, choirs and orchestra, freely adapted from Shakespeare. Brahms and Wagner were deeply influenced by it; Paganini hailed it as a masterpiece.

A dramatic legend in four parts for voices and orchestra, inspired by Goethe's Faust. Poorly received at its premiere, it became one of Berlioz's most performed works after his death.

A grand opera in five acts inspired by Virgil's Aeneid, Berlioz's most ambitious work. He was never able to see it performed in its entirety during his lifetime; Paris only staged the second part.

A landmark theoretical treatise on the expressive capabilities of each orchestral instrument. Translated throughout Europe, it remained a pedagogical reference still in use in the 20th century.

I saw Harriet Smithson for the first time in the role of Ophelia... It was a thunderbolt of unheard-of violence. I felt that my musical life was about to change course.

The orchestra can sing, pray, dream, weep. Each instrument has its own voice, a character, a soul that the composer must know as the painter knows his colours.

I want to make music such as has never been heard before. Not pleasant sounds, but true sounds, capable of expressing the most violent passions of the human soul.

Beethoven opened up a new world. After him, the symphony can no longer be mere entertainment: it must be a sonic drama, a confession, a cry of humanity.

Berlioz's birthplace, where he spent his childhood and where his father, a physician, taught him music. Now home to the Festival Berlioz, founded in 1988.

Berlioz studied there from 1824 and experienced his first clashes with the institution. He won the Prix de Rome in 1830 after multiple failed attempts.

The main Parisian concert hall of the era, where several of his major works premiered, but also the stage of his many disappointments in the face of rejections or mutilations of his scores.

Residence of Prix de Rome laureates, where Berlioz stayed from 1831 to 1832. He was more captivated by the Italian landscapes than by academic life, drawing inspiration from these travels for Harold in Italy.

Site of the triumphant premiere of the Grande Messe des morts in 1837, with more than 400 performers assembled for a national ceremony honoring the victims of the Algerian War.

Berlioz was one of the first French composers to conduct his own works with a baton, a practice still uncommon in France at the time. He theorized the role of the conductor as the sovereign interpreter of the score.

His manuscripts, covered in crossings-out and annotations, bear witness to an orchestral writing of unprecedented complexity for the era, with extremely precise dynamic and tempo markings.

Unlike most composers of his time, Berlioz did not play the piano but the guitar and the flute. He used the guitar to sketch his melodies and accompany his youthful songs.

A feared music critic at the Journal des Débats for thirty years, Berlioz wielded his pen with as much talent as his baton. His chronicles, often biting, earned him both admiration and enmity.

A regular attendee of opera and theatre performances, Berlioz observed stagings with close attention, seeking in visual drama inspirations for his compositions.

Won in 1830 after four attempts, this award allowed him to stay at the Villa Medici in Rome — a residency he nonetheless found disappointing, far from the effervescence of Paris.