Product Description

The fascinating autobiography of the great Romantic composer, translated and edited by his Whitbread- and Samuel Johnson-prizewinning biographer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #429614 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 720 pages

About the Author
Music critic of the Sunday Times from 1983 to 1992, having earlier been music critic and arts editor of the Spectator, and a writer on the Evening Standard, the Financial Tims and the New Statesman. He has been Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of California, a visiting scholar at the Getty Center in Santa Monica and a visiting fellow of Merton College, Oxford. In 1991, in recognition of his services to French music, he was made Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has always been actively involved in music-making and was co-founder of the Chelsea Opera Group.

Customer Reviews

A brilliant autobiograpy.
I found this book engrossing, and I don't even particularly like Berlioz' music. He was bombastic, egotistical and extremely adept at telling a story. By the first paragraph I was hooked: "During the months which preceded my birth, my mother never dreamt, as Virgil's did, that she was about to bring forth a branch of laurel.... Strange, I admit, but true. I came into the world quite naturally, unheralded by any of the signs which, in poetic ages, preceded the advent of remarkable personages." I'll never forget the scene in which Berlioz, whose tragedies never seemed to end, had to go to the cemetery in Montmartre to attend the exhumation of the remains of his former wife. Always lively, Berlioz describes his travels and the people (famous and not so) that both adorned and plagued his world. "While posting from Berlin to Tilsit I had the ill-luck to have a music-mad courier, who tormented me dreadfully the whole time I was with him.... He had a mania for composing polkas and waltzes for the piano. He used to stop at the post-houses sometimes for an unconscionable time, and there, while he was supposed to be reckoning with the landlord, he was engaged in ruling music paper and jotting down the dance tune he had been whistling for the last three hours." The famous Hector Berlioz was then expected to "write the bass and harmony to it." An entertaining read, and an education.

deeply inspiring
Simply one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. Like the previous reviewer, I was hooked from the first page. Berlioz's style (which thankfully has not lost its charm and wit in translation) is very readable and superbly constructed. He was obviously an eccentric character, but a deeply passionate man both as a composer and as a lover. He takes us through his life in chronological order, from the village he was born in, to his visits to Rome, Moscow, and London, and his life in Paris. An amazing read for anyone interested in French music from any period and on any level, but also a must-read for those interested in 19th-century Europe, especially Paris. Apart from this, I feel there are some very valuable lessons for life we can all learn from Berlioz. I can honestly say I am a different person from reading this book. It is the only book I have read that has moved me to tears. After reading this, your perceptions on life and on music will change forever...for the better.