1832
Berlioz Hector
Berlioz composes the song La Captive in Subiaco (February), which is dedicated to Mademoiselle Louise Vernet. While in Italy, Emile Signol draws Berlioz’s portrait. Naples, Pompeii, Genoa, Milan and Tivoli are among other cities and locations visited by Berlioz during his stay in Italy. He leaves Rome in May and eventually arrives in Paris in November, staying a few months en route at La Cote, where he briefly sees Estelle Fornier at the coach station to deliver her a letter at his mother’s request. On his return to Paris he meets the writer Ernest Legouve who becomes a life-long friend. He plans a concert which takes place on 9 December; it consists of the Symphonie fantastique and Lelio, and is conducted by Habeneck. Among the audience are the ‘elite’ of Paris Society: Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas pere, Heinrich Heine, Paganini, Liszt, Chopin, George Sand, Alfred de Vigny, Theophile Gautier, Jules Janin and.…Harriet Smithson; a few days later he is finally introduced to her. He writes an autobiographical sketch, the first he is known to have written, which forms the basis of an article on him by his friend Joseph d’Ortigue, published on 23 December in the Revue de Paris.
1834
Composition of the symphony with solo viola Harold en Italie at Paganini’s request (January-June). Berlioz and Harriet move to Montmartre. Hector and Harriet’s son Louis is born on 14 August. Berlioz’s younger sister Adele is the little boy’s godmother.
Composition of Sara la baigneuse for chorus and orchestra, on a poem by Victor Hugo. Berlioz becomes music critic of the influential Journal des debats, owned and run by the Bertin family (October). The position brings him a regular income and provides him with a powerful platform — but it also means that he has to spend a lot of time attending performances of other composers’ operas and concerts in order to write about them, the time which he could have spent composing his own music. He will come to detest having to write for various journals in order to earn a living. Premiere of Harold en Italie at the Conservatoire on 23 November, Girard conducting.
1836 - Composition of the opera Benvenuto Cellini
It is inspired by the autobiography of the Italian renaissance sculptor, relatively recently translated into French. The libretto is by Leon de Wailly and Auguste Barbier. His friend Ernest Legouve lends him money which enables him to complete the work. Berlioz and Harriet attend the premiere of Les Huguenots by Meyerbeer at the Opera (29 February).
Berlioz moves back from Montmartre to Paris (September). Harriet Smithson appears on stage for the last time (17 December).
1840
The Symphonie funebre et triomphale is commissioned to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the 1830 Revolution (March). Composed in June and July, it is performed in the open air under the direction of Berlioz himself (28 July). Berlioz leads the procession of musicians which ends at the Place de la Bastille, where a commemorative bronze column, the Colonne de Juillet, in honour of the victims of the revolution is inaugurated. Berlioz visits his father at La Cote (September).
1841
Composition of the Reverie et caprice for violin and orchestra, based on a discarded aria from Benvenuto Cellini (March). Berlioz writes recitatives for a production of Weber’s Der Freischutz at the Opera (May), and also orchestrates Weber’s Invitation a la valse to provide ballet music for it (May-June). Weber’s Der Freischutz is performed at the Opera with recitatives by Berlioz (first performance on 9 June). Les Nuits d’ete (for piano and voices) is completed and published (September). Some years later all the six songs will be orchestrated. Start of the composition of La Nonne sanglante, based on an episode of Lewis’s The Monk, on a libretto by Eugene Scribe (September). Start of a series of 16 articles On Orchestration (De l’Instrumentation) in the Revue et gazette musicale (21 November 1841 till 17 July 1842); this will form the basis of his later treatise on orchestration, first published late in 1843. Berlioz starts his relationship with the singer Marie Recio.
Concert of Hector Berlioz (1803-69) in 1846
1842
Completion of the ballad La Mort d’Ophelie on a poem by Legouve (7 May), inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Concert tour to Brussels (September-October), as a preliminary to the first of many of Berlioz’s travels in Europe. Marie Recio accompanies him on this and subsequent tours. In December, start of the long-projected concert tour to Germany, starting with Brussels, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.
1844
Publication of the treatise on orchestration, the Grand traite d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes (January). The overture Le Carnaval romain is premiered as a concert piece at the Salle Herz (3 February); the work was dedicated to the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. Start of the serialisation in Revue et gazette musicale of Euphonia, ou la ville musicale (from 18 February), later incorporated in Les Soirees de l’orchestre. Composition of the Hymne a la France (June) for the Festival of Industry concert at the Cirque Olympique on 1 August. Publication of Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie (mid-August). This will be later incorporated in his Memoirs. Recovering from his exertions Berlioz makes a trip to Nice from September to mid October; while there he composes the first version of an overture, which is first called La Tour de Nice [The Tower of Nice]. The work will be subsequently revised between 1846 and 1851 and renamed Le Corsaire. Berlioz and his wife Harriet separate; he moves in with Marie Recio in her flat at 41 rue de Provence; Harriet continues to live at 43 and then 65 rue Blanche. From now on Berlioz will maintain two households; he continues to provide for Harriet and, a few years later when she becomes seriously ill, he pays for all her medical expenses as well. In November, composition of the Three pieces for Alexander’s melodium-organ and of the Marche Funebre pour la derniere scene d’Hamlet (the latter piece was never performed in Berlioz’s lifetime).