Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869)
First broadcast from 20050523 to 20090102.
15 episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 20060814 | Donald Macleod looks at some of the obsessions of a very obsessive character, Hector Berlioz, and discusses the composer's passion for music. Symphonie fantastique, Reveries Passions Concertebouw Orchestra Amsterdam Sir Colin Davis (conductor) Absence Diane Montague (mezzo-soprano) Orchestre de L'opera de Lyon Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor) Grande messe de morts - Requiem et Kyrie; Dies Irae London Symphony Orchestra André Previn (conductor) Ô Blonde Cérès from Les Troyens, Act 4, Scene 2 Roberto Alagna (tenor) Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Bertrand de Billy (conductor). | |
| 01 | Berlioz The Songwriter | 20050523 | Biographer and Berlioz authority David Cairns joins Donald Macleod to talk about aspects of Hector Berlioz's music. They discuss Berlioz's songwriting. Berlioz's earliest compositions were songs, some of which may have been written while he was still living at home with his parents in La Côte-Saint-André. As a young man keen to further his musical studies he moved to PARIS in 1821, but although he became enthused with writing larger orchestral works he continued to write songs intermittently up until 1850, expanding and developing the genre. Elégie, Irlande, Op 2 Robert Tear (tenor) Viola Tunnard (piano) Le Jeune Pâtre breton, Op 13, No 4 John Aler (tenor) Bernd Schenk (horn) Cord Garben (piano) Les nuits d'été, Op 7 Susan Graham (mezzo soprano)Royal Opera House Orchestra John Nelson (conductor) La mort d'Ophélie Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo soprano) Cord Garben (piano). |
| 02 | 20060815 | Hector Berlioz described his discovery of William Shakespeare as coming like a thunderbolt. Donald Macleod explores the effect this thunderbolt had on Berlioz's music. La Mort d'Orphélie Ann Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano) Cord Garben (piano) Romeo et Juliette, Scene d'amour Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor) Beatrice et Benedict (excerpts) Beatrice....Susan Graham (soprano) Hero....Sylvia McNair (soprano) Ursule....Catherine Robbin (mezzo) Benedict....Jean Luc Viala (tenor) Choir and Orchestra of Opera Lyon John Nelson (conductor). | |
| 02 | Berlioz's Religious Music | 20050524 | Donald Macleod and the Berlioz expert David Cairns consider Berlioz's contribution to religious works. Although he's often considered primarily as a dramatic composer, nonetheless Berlioz produced three of his greatest works for the church, the Grand messe des morts or Requiem in 1837, the Te Deum of 1849 and the biblical oratorio l'Enfance du Christ between 1850-1854. Prière, Act 2, Benvenuto Cellini Teresa CHRISTIANe Eda-Pierre (soprano) Jane Berbié (mezzo soprano)Royal Opera House Chorus BBC Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis (conductor) Excerpt from Messe Solennelle Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor) Excerpt from Grande Messe des Morts, Op 5 Royal Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra Sir Thomas Beecham (conductor) Prière du Matin Female members of Chamber Choir of Lyon National Orchestra Noël Lee (piano) Bernard Tétu (director) Judex crederis (Te Deum) Massed choirsEUROPEan Community Youth Orchestra Martin Haselböck (organ) Claudio Abbado (conductor) Epilogue from l'Enfance du Christ Paul Agnew (tenor) La Chapelle Royale Collegium Vocale Orchestre des Champs Elysées Philippe Herreweghe (director). |
| 03 | 20050525 | Berlioz the Dramatist Berlioz found dramatic expression and inspiration in Beethoven's music. He was also stimulated by the prevailing artistic thirst for literature and art. As a child he had read the Classics on his father's knee, and retained a life-long love of Virgil's the Aeneid. He wasn't a linguist but could read and speak Italian and ENGLISH, and it's clear from the frequent quotations in his writings that he was thoroughly acquainted with the French classics in poetry and prose. During the 1820s he discovered Shakespeare and Goethe's Faust, which resulted some years later in one of his most brilliant scores, which he described as an opera without décor or costumes, La damnation de Faust. Donald Macleod is joined by the Berlioz expert David Cairns. Excerpt from Cléopâtre Dame Janet Baker (mezzo soprano)LONDON Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis (conductor) King Lear, Op 4 Scottish National Orchestra Sir Alexander Gibson (conductor) Excerpt from La damnation de Faust Part 3 Jules Bastin (bass)LONDON Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Sir Colin Davis (conductor) Dance of the Sylphs from la damnation de FaustLONDON Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis (conductor) Invocation to Nature from La damnation de Faust, Part 4 Nicolai Gedda (tenor)LONDON Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis (conductor). | |
| 03 | 20060816 | Donald Macleod discusses Hector Berlioz's great passion for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, and the effect his obsession with her had on his work. Elegi No 9 from Irlande Opus 2 Thomas Hampson (baritone) Geoffrey Parsons (piano) Fantasia on Shakespeare's The Tempest London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra Pierre Boulez (conductor) Overture King Lear Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Alexander Gibson (conductor) Concert de Sylphes from Eight Scenes of Faust Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Choir Charles Dutoit (conductor) Sur Les Lagunes from Les Nuits d'Eté Francoix Le Roux (baritone) Montreal Symphony Orchestra Charles Dutoit (conductor). | |
| 04 | 20050526 | Berlioz the Symphonist Berlioz's artistic viewpoint saw the symphony as a form of drama which could equal any drama on stage. His scale of vision and ideas about orchestration were ahead of his time. His earliest symphonic work, the Symphonie fantastique, which was produced in 1830, had an electrifying effect on the audience.They'd never heard anything like it before. Harold in Italy followed in 1834, which was inspired by Byron's dramatic poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Berlioz's own memories of happy times spent in the Abruzzi mountains outside Rome. Like Beethoven before him, Berlioz's innovations challenged the way in which symphonic music was regarded. Donald Macleod is joined by Berlioz expert David Cairns. Ronde du Sabbat from Symphonie FantastiqueLONDON Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis (conductor) Harold in Italy (2nd movement) Tabea Zimmermann (viola)LONDON Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis (conductor) Symphonie funèbre (excerpt from 1st movement) Montreal Symphony Orchestra Charles Dutoit (conductor) Roméo et Juliette (finale) Gilles Cachemaille (baritone) Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique Monteverdi Choir Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor). | |
| 04 | 20060817 | 'Beethoven opened up before me a new world of music' - so said the composer Hector Berlioz. Donald Macleod explores the influence of Berlioz's hero on his work. Extracts from The Damnation of Faust: Merci, doux crepuscule; Nature Immense Placido Domingo (tenor) Choir and Orchestra of Paris Daniel Barenboim (conductor) Harold in Italy Yehudi Menuhin (viola) Philharmonia Orchestra Charles Dutoit (conductor). | |
| 05 LAST | 20060818 | Donald Macleod ends this week of programmes looking at the obsessions of Hector Berlioz by exploring two lifelong passions, the writings of Virgil and Estelle Duboeuf. Adieu Bessy, Op 2, No 8 Robert Tear (tenor) Viola Tunnard (piano) Act 5 (excerpt), from Les Troyens Dido....Francoise Pollet (soprano) Aeneas....Garry Lakes (tenor) Iopas....Jean Luc Maurette (tenor) Anna....Helen Perraguin (mezzo-soprano) Narbal....Jean Philippe Courtis (bass) Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Choir Charles Dutoit (conductor) Marche funèbre pour le derniere scene d'Hamlet Tristia, Op 18, No 3 Cleveland Orchestra Pierre Boulez (conductor). | |
| 05 LAST | Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) | 20050527 | Berlioz the Opera Composer Donald Macleod and Berlioz authority David Cairns turn their attention to Berlioz's operatic output. Between about 1836 and 1862 Berlioz produced three works. The comic-operas Benvenuto Cellini, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing, Béatrice et Benedict, and The Trojans, which was inspired by Berlioz's childhood passion for Virgil. L'amour et un flambeau, Act 2, Béatrice et Benedict Eukelejda Shkosa (mezzo soprano) Kenneth Tarver (tenor)LONDON Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis Trio from Act 1, Benvenuto CelliniCHRISTIANe Eda-Pierre (soprano) Nicolai Gedda (tenor) Robert Massard (baritone) BBC SO/Sir Colin Davis Scene 8, Act 1, Benvenuto Cellini Nicolai Gedda (tenor) Derek Blackwell (tenor) Robert Lloyd (bass)Royal Opera House Chorus BBC SO/Sir Colin Davis Scene 1, Act 2, Benvenuto Cellini BBC SO/Sir Colin Davis Je crois en vous Thomas Allen (baritone) Cord Garben (piano) Dieu! Que viens je d'entredre/il m'en souvient, Act 2 Béatrice et Benedict Enkelejda Shkosa (mezzo soprano) LSO/Sir Colin Davis Duet from Act 3, The Trojans Michelle de Young (mezzo soprano) Anna Sara Mingardo (alto) LSO/Sir Colin Davis Finale to Act 1, The Trojans Benn Heppner (tenor) Alan Ewing (bass) Cassandra Petra Lang (mezzo soprano)LONDON Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis. |
| 01 | 20081229 | Donald Macleod and John Eliot Gardiner explore the music of Berlioz. In a special series of programmes recorded at the celebrated conductor's Dorset farm, Donald Macleod and John Eliot Gardiner explore the music of Hector Berlioz, regarded by many as France's greatest composer. They focus on a single work, the Messe solennelle, which Berlioz composed at the tender age of 21. Long thought lost - the composer incinerated the parts after only two performances - the score turned up in 1992 in an oak chest in an Antwerp organ loft, where it had lain unnoticed for over a century. Despite Berlioz's evidently low opinion of it, the Messe solennelle is a remarkable and still relatively little-known work that bears many hallmarks of the composer's mature style. Excerpt from Tuba mirum (Grande Messe des Morts) messe solennelle (1824-5) (all parts excluding the offertory motet) | |
| 02 | 20081230 | Donald Macleod and John Eliot Gardiner explore two of Berlioz's symphonies. Donald Macleod explores the music of Hector Berlioz in conversation with Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the celebrated conductor's Dorset farm. For Gardiner, Berlioz is perhaps the greatest of French composers, and he speaks with a lifetime's experience of studying and performing this remarkable music. They explore two of Berlioz's symphonies - Harold in Italy and Romeo and Juliet. But are they really symphonies? Harold includes a part for solo viola, which suggests a concerto, but it's more like a song without words, evoking the spirit of Byron's Childe Harold, than a true concerto role. That's certainly what Paganini thought: he commissioned Berlioz to write it but then lost interest when he realised that it was not going to allow him sufficient scope to show off. And Romeo, with its voices, its chorus and its plot, is as much a concert opera as it is a symphony, closely following the action of the Shakespeare play that amazed the composer when he saw it in September 1827. Like a pioneering horticulturalist, Berlioz created new musical hybrids to suit his present purpose, so no wonder that some of his contemporaries were confused. But in the process he created some of the most thrilling, dramatic and beautiful music of the 19th century. Ecot de joyeux compagnons (Histoire d'un rat) (Huit scenes de Faust, Op 1) harold aux montagnes (harold in italy, 1st mvt) romeo seul; scene d'amour (romeo et juliette, op 17) | |
| 03 | 20081231 | Donald Macleod and John Eliot Gardiner explore Berlioz the song writer. Donald Macleod explores the music of Hector Berlioz in conversation with Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the celebrated conductor's Dorset farm. For Gardiner, Berlioz is perhaps the greatest of French composers, and he speaks with a lifetime's experience of studying and performing this remarkable music. They explore Berlioz the song writer and discover that Berlioz the song writer is really just another aspect of Berlioz the dramatist. All Berlioz's music is essentially dramatic. Often, incidents in his own life are seen through the filter of literature - Shakespeare, Goethe, Virgil - then converted into music, whether symphonic, vocal or operatic. Irlande, a collection of nine songs to poems by the Irish writer Thomas Moore, is a case in point. At the time, he was still reeling from the double impact of Shakespeare and Harriet Smithson - the Shakespearean heroine and future Mrs Berlioz. He happened to pick up a copy of Moore's poems, with their atmosphere of heroism and patriotism, all steeped in the soft glow of Celtic romance, and it proved to be perfect material for him, besotted with his passion for the beautiful Irish actress. les nuits d'ete (piano version) zaide 3 songs from neuf melodies (later titled irlande) | |
| 04 | 20090101 | Donald Macleod explores the poetic vein of death and melancholy in Berlioz's output. Donald Macleod explores the music of Hector Berlioz in conversation with Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the celebrated conductor's Dorset farm. For Gardiner, Berlioz is perhaps the greatest of French composers, and he speaks with a lifetime's experience of studying and performing this remarkable music. They explore the poetic vein of death and melancholy running through Berlioz's output - on the face of it, a somewhat gloomy line of enquiry, but in fact one that brings together an astonishing variety of reflections on mortality. On Berlioz's third attempt to win the coveted Prix de Rome in 1829, he was thought to be a shoo-in. But rather than submitting a safe, conventional piece designed to impress the academic judges, he produced a highly original work that was held by the judiciary to 'betray dangerous tendencies'. That work was The Death of Cleopatra. Barely a decade later, Berlioz was considered sufficiently part of the French musical establishment to be commissioned to write music for a grand ceremony to mark the tenth anniversary of the July Revolution. In response, he composed what he called his Grande symphonie funebre et triomphale, scored for a huge military band of 200 players. The programme concludes with Tristia (Sad Things), a title borrowed from Ovid and a triptych of reflective pieces including the well-known Death of Ophelia and the less well-known Funeral March for the Final Scene of Hamlet. La mort de Cleopatre meditation religieuse; la mort d'ophelie; marche funebre pour la derniere scene d'hamlet (tristia) marche funebre (grand symphonie funebre et triomphale, 1st mvt) | |
| 05 LAST | 20090102 | Donald Macleod and John Eliot Gardiner focus on Berlioz's gargantuan opera Les Troyens. Donald Macleod explores the music of Hector Berlioz in conversation with Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the celebrated conductor's Dorset farm. For Gardiner, Berlioz is perhaps the greatest of French composers, and he speaks with a lifetime's experience of studying and performing this remarkable music. They focus on what many consider to be the summit of Berlioz's achievement - his gargantuan opera Les Troyens. This is thanks to the influence of Dr Berlioz, who infected his young son with a love for the tales of towering passion, of gods and goddesses, of heroes and villains of Virgil's Aeneid - he even named him Hector. The programme features three excerpts from this four-hour epic. Two of them focus on the opera's key couples, Cassandra and Chorebus, and Dido and Aeneas, all of them doomed except for Aeneas, who eventually sails off into the sunset for his date with destiny - the founding of Rome. The third is the famous Trojan March from the end of Act 1. John Eliot Gardiner's recording is the only one to feature the original saxhorns demanded by the score, and he relates how he tracked down a complete set in the private collection of a retired Parisian railway worker, whose apartment near the Gare du Nord was hung from floor to ceiling with historic brass instruments. Aria: Malheureux roi!; Duet: C'est lui!; Cavatina: Reviens a toi, vierge adoree; Pauvre ame egaree!; Si tu m'aimes, va-t'en; Mais le ciel et la terre; Quitte-nous des ce soir (Les Troyens, Act 1) du roi des dieux o! fils aimee (trojan march) (les troyens) les troyens (act 4, sc 2) |