1856
Berlioz travels on a concert tour to Gotha and Weimar (end January to early March); in Weimar he attends another performance of Benvenuto Cellini conducted by Liszt (16 February). During his visit to Weimar Princess Sayn-Wittenstein convinces Berlioz that he must compose Les Troyens. Completion of the orchestration of Les Nuits d’ete. Berlioz and Marie move to 17 rue de Vintimille in April, and stay there till October. In April Berlioz begins the composition of Les Troyens; the opera is based on Books Two and Four of Virgil’s Aeneid, which Berlioz had first read as a child under his father’s guidance. Berlioz will write the libretto as well as the musical score.Berlioz adds a Postscript to his Memoirs, dated 25 May 1856 (the first edition gives the year incorrectly as 1858). Berlioz succeeds to Adam’s chair at the Institut de France (21 June). In July and August he visits Plombieres (to take waters on his doctor’s advice) and Baden-Baden for the annual concerts. Berlioz and Marie move to 4 rue de Calais in October; this will be Berlioz’s last domicile in Paris till his death. Onset of an intestinal illness from which he will suffer for the rest of his life and which will progressively get worse.
1859
Publication of Les Grotesques de la Musique (March).Visit to Bordeaux, where Berlioz gives a concert (8 June).
Visit to Baden-Baden in August. Berlioz supervises the revival of Gluck’s opera Orphee at the Theatre-Lyrique (November), with Pauline Viardot in the title role. His review of the production is later included in A Travers Chants. Berlioz is acutely ill; he asks Benazet to cancel his commission for Baden-Baden.
1860
The Theatre-Lyrique agrees to stage Les Troyens (January).Review of Wagner’s concerts in the Journal des debats (9 February), later incorporated in A Travers Chants. Open letter by Wagner in the Journal des debats on ‘The Music of the Future’ (22 February).
Berlioz’s younger sister Adele dies of heart-related illness on 2 March, shortly after being visited by Berlioz. She is buried in Vienne where she has been living with her husband and two daughters. Berlioz reviews a production of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio at the Theatre-Lyrique in the Journal des debats (19 and 22 May); the articles are later reproduced in A Travers Chants. Berlioz visits Baden Baden (August), where Benazet agrees to commission Beatrice et Benedict in place of the previously commissioned opera.
Berlioz decides to have the vocal score of Les Troyens printed at his own expense (September); this appeared in 1862.
1861
Composition of Le Temple universel (January-February) Berlioz receives a silver crown from the youth of Gyor to thank him for the Hungarian March (early February) Les Troyens is dropped by the Theatre-Lyrique but accepted by the Opera (June). Visit to Baden-Baden in August; the concert on the 26th is attended by Berlioz’s nieces Josephine and Nanci Suat as well as by their father. Articles on Gluck’s setting of Alceste in the Journal des debats (October-December), subsequently reproduced in A Travers Chants.
1863
Berlioz ends his relationship with Amelie at her request and is deeply upset (mid-February) Les Troyens is dropped by the Opera but accepted by Carvalho, director of the newly re-built Theatre-Lyrique (mid February). Visit to Weimar in April to conduct Beatrice et Benedict (8 and 10 April); while in Germany he also goes to Lowenberg to give a concert there (19 April). He conducts L’Enfance du Christ in Strasbourg on 22 June. Visit to Baden-Baden in August to revive Beatrice et Benedict in an augmented form (14 and 18 August). Berlioz publishes his last signed article for the Journal des debats on 8 October, on Bizet’s opera Les Pecheurs de perles [The Pearl Fishers]. He encounters great difficulties in staging Les Troyens in a truncated form at the Theatre-Lyrique. It is eventually premiered on 4 November and runs to 21 performances until 20 December. Madame Charton-Demeur sings the role of Didon. Paris will wait another 140 years to see Les Troyens staged complete and without cuts in 2003 at the Theatre du Chatelet, on the opposite side of the Place du Chatelet.
Final years
1864
Arrangement of the Marche troyenne as a concert piece (January). Harriet Smithson’s remains are moved to the cemetery in Montmartre from the Saint Vincent Cemetery which was due for demolition (3 February or 3 March). Berlioz finally resigns as music critic of the Journal des debats (end March). Death of Meyerbeer (2 May). Berlioz adds the Postface to the Memoirs (first half of July)
Berlioz is made Officier de la Legion d’honneur at the same time as his friend Legouve (12 August). On 22 August, Berlioz hears from a friend that Amelie, who was suffering from poor health, had died at the age of 26. A week later, while walking in the Montmartre Cemetery, Berlioz discovers Amelie’s grave; she had been dead for six months. He is devastated. Berlioz travels to Dauphine to visit relatives: Adele’s family in Vienne (30 August), Camille Pal (Nanci’s husband) in Grenoble (ca. 18 September). He revisits Meylan (22 September) and the next day meets Estelle Fornier in Lyon for the first time in over 40 years. He begins a regular correspondence with her.
1865
The final section of the Memoirs, the Trip to Dauphine, is completed and dated on 1 January. Berlioz sends the completed text to the publishers. Completion of the printing of the Memoirs (1200 copies, on 29 July). Berlioz sends a copy to Estelle Fornier; the remaining copies are stored in his office at the Conservatoire awaiting posthumous publication (a copy of this early print is now in the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris, and another in the Hector Berlioz Museum in La Cote). Visit to Estelle Fornier in Geneva (18-25 August), followed by visits to his brothers-in-law Camille Pal in Grenoble (ca. 25-29 August) and Marc Suat in Vienne (29 August-9 September).
1867
Visit to Cologne to give a concert (26 February). His son Louis, who was commander of a merchant ship, dies of yellow fever in Havana on 5 June; Berlioz only receives the news on 29 June and is devastated. In his study at the Conservatoire Berlioz destroys a large number of papers and memorabilia associated with his career (mid July). Berlioz draws up his will (29 July).
He visits Adele’s family in Vienne in August and Estelle Fornier in St Symphorien, where she now lives with her son and his family, in September. The visit on 9 September is the last time that he sees her. He accepts an invitation from Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna to make a concert tour in Russia (18 September). Departure from Paris for Russia (12 November).
Louis Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer best known for the Symphonie fantastique, first performed in 1830.1868
Berlioz returns to Paris from Russia exhausted (17 February). Last trip to Nice early in March, where Berlioz suffers two falls.
He adds a codicil to his will. In August he visits Grenoble for the last time to address a choral festival.
1869
8 March: Berlioz dies at his Paris home No. 4 rue de Calais at 30 minutes past midday. His faithful servant, his mother-in-law Madame Martin and his devoted friends Ernest Reyer and Madame Charton-Demeur are with him in his final hours. The funeral service is held at the Eglise de la Trinite (11 March). He joins his two wives at Montmartre Cemetery.