BERLIOZ, Louis Hector, French com poser : b. Cote Saint Andre, 11 Dec. 1803; d. Paris, 8 March 1869. His father, a physician, desired his son to follow the same career but the latter early in life was greatly attracted to tnusic, and soon found his way to the Paris Conservatonr library, where he studied the masters. He studied harmony under Lesueur and composed a mass which was performed at Saint Roch. In 1823 he was admitted to the Conservatory and at once his great talent be came evident, and at the same time his dis regard for the traditional canons. Bent on giving expression to his own ideas, Berlioz proceeded by violating all precedents and estab lished rules. As a consequence he was never complete master of the various forrns of com position. With his (Fantastic Symphony,' and the cantata, (Sardanapalus> he established a new school of composition which came to be Icnown as the school of program music. Com posers of the school seek to express by means of music definite ideas and moods and even to relate definite events. Berlioz had won the Prix de Rome with (Sardanapalus) in 1830 and his residence in Italy furnished him with in spiration for his gifts. He wrote the overture to 'King Lear> and (Lilio,) a symphonic poem. He took up journalistic work successively for the Correspondant, the Courrier de l'Europe, the Revue Europeenne and the Gazette Musicale de Paris. His style was marked by its brilliancy and power and by unswerving honesty and candor. In 1839 he was made conservator; and in 1852 librarian at the Conservatory. The symphony, (Harold en Italie' (1834), the (Messe des moils' (1837) and (Romeo et Juliette) (1839) won him high praise from the critics, but his opera, (Benvenuto Cellini> (1838), was a dismal failure. In 1f343 Berlioz made a
tour of Germany and for the next 10 years he toured Austria, England, Russia and other countries of Europe, and met with success everywhere. In 1856 he was' elected to the Academy. (Les Troyers) (1863) proved a failure, which greatly disheartened the composer. His writings on music. and musical topics are among the best of their lcind. His (Traite d'in strumentation> expressed his views on instru mentation and long remained the first work in its field. In his lifetime Berlioz did not receive his due measure of appreciation. It is true he lacked melodic invention but he was master in all else. His place in the history of music is most important. He exerted a wide influence on the advance in orchestral technique and he is the aclmowledged father of modern orchestration.
There is a German translation of his collected writings by Richard Pohl (4 vols., 1864). A complete ecfition of his compositions and writ ings in 17 volumes is in preparation at Leipzig under the editorship of Breitkopf, Malherbe, Hanel and Weingartner. Consult Ambros, (Bunte Blatter); Hippean, (Berlioz, fhomme et l'artiste) (Paris lffi8); Julbien, A., (H. Berlioz) (Paris 1888) ; Pohl, R., (H. Berlioz, Studien und Erinnerungen) (Leipzig 1884); id., (H. Berlioz, Leben und Werke) (ib. 1900); the autobiographic (Memoirs) (Paris 1870; English trans., R. & E. Holmes, London 1884)- Prtur homme, J. G., (Hector Berlioz, 1863-1869) (Paris 1905).