Introduction

This page aims to provide a chronological outline of the main events in

Berliozs career, with a listing of his major musical and literary works, and
mention of the people who played an important part in his life; the page is not
meant to be a full biography of Berlioz. Fuller details are to be found on other
pages of this site, to which this outline provides numerous hyperlinks. It thus
serves as a chronological index of Berliozs career as documented and illustrated
on this site.
The text is divided into eight sections, each covering a distinctive period of
Berliozs life:
1. 1803-1821: Childhood at La Cte
2. 1821-1832: Student years in Paris and Italy
3. 1832-1842: Musical career in Paris
4. 1842-1848: Musical career abroad (1)
5. 1848-1856: Musical career abroad (2)
6. 1856-1863: Les Troyens
7. 1864-1869: Final years
8. Posthumous events
This page is also available in French
Copyright notice: The texts, photos, images and musical scores on all pages
of this site are covered by UK Law and International Law. All rights of
publication or reproduction of this material in any form, including Web
page use, are reserved. Their use without our explicit permission is illegal.

1. 1803-1821: Childhood at La Cte Saint-Andr

1803
On 7 February Louis Berlioz, a young doctor from La Cte Saint Andr in the
Dpartement of Isre, and Marie-Antoinette-Josephine, daughter of Nicolas
Marmion, a lawyer from Meylan, are married in her home town on. She is 18
years old, he is 27.
Louis-Hector Berlioz is born at 5.00pm on 11 December at No. 83 rue nationale,
La Cte Saint-Andr and is baptised in the chapel of the Church of Saint
Andr (14 December). His paternal grand-father Nicolas Marmion and greatgrand-mother Sophie Brochier are, respectively, his god-father and god-mother.
Dr and Madame Berlioz will have five other children of whom two will reach
adulthood, Nanci and Adle.
ca 1811
Following the closure of the local seminary, Dr Louis Berlioz takes charge of his
sons education.
ca 1815
Berlioz receives his first communion in spring where he undergoes his first
musical experience.
He meets Estelle Dubuf, his "first passion", in Meylan, now a suburb of
Grenoble.
Berlioz learns to read Virgil in the original Latin and translate it into French
under his fathers tuition.
1816
Berlioz learns to play the flageolet; earliest attempts at composition.
1817
First compositions, including the Pot-pourri for six instruments, now lost.

Imbert, the second violin of the Thtre de Lyon and engaged by the Mayor of La
Cte to give lessons to the musicians of the National Guard, becomes
Hectors music teacher. Hector learns to play the flute.
1818
Composition of two quintets for flute and strings. A theme from one of them is
reused later in the overture to Les Francs-Juges.
1819
In January Dr Berlioz buys a flute and later a guitar for his son who begins
lessons on the instrument with his new teacher Dorant.
Berlioz composes Le Dpit de la bergre, which is published by Auguste Le Duc.
The autograph is lost. The music was reused years later for
theSicilienne in Batrice et Bndict.
Composition of a piece for voice and guitar, Je vais donc quitter pour
jamais, text by Florian. It will be reused for the first movement of theSymphonie
fantastique (bars 3-16).

2. 1821-1832: Student years in Paris and Italy

1821
Berlioz is made bachelier s lettres at Grenoble on 22 March.
He departs for Paris to read medicine in late October.
First visit to the Opra, where he sees a performance of Glucks
masterpiece Iphignie en Tauride (November). Shortly after he writes to his
sisterNanci about this first experience.
1822

He frequents the Conservatoire library, where he seeks out the scores of Gluck,
which are available to the public, and copies of large parts of Glucks Iphignie
en Tauride and Iphignie en Aulide. These copies in Berliozs hand have
survived.
Berlioz hears Spontinis music for the first time when he attends performances
of La Vestale and Fernand Cortez at the Opra. Later he will meet the composer
and become a champion of his music. When Spontini dies in 1851 Berlioz will
write his obituary.
He decides to devote himself to music. He is introduced by a friend to Lesueur,
director of the Royal Chapel and professor at the Paris Conservatoire, who gives
him encouragement.
1823
Berlioz writes his very first article at the age of 20, in the form of a letter to the
journal Le Corsaire, which is published in the issue of 12 August 1823
During a visit to La Cte in spring and early summer his family fails to make him
abandon his interest in music, he wins over his father but his mother curses him.
Composition of Estelle et Nmorin (now lost); the libretto is by HyacintheChristophe Gerono, after Florians poem of the same title.
During the winter he writes an oratorio entitled Le Passage de la mer Rouge (The
Crossing of the Red Sea; now lost) and shows it to Lesueur, who admits him as
one of his private pupils.
1824
He is made Bachelier s sciences physiques (12 January).
Composition of the Messe solennelle, which is rehearsed (December) but not
performed. He makes changes to it after he hears it at the rehearsal.
He finally abandons medicine and embarks on a career in music.
In December he attends a performance of Der Freischtz at the Odon Theatre;
this is Berliozs first acquaintance with the music of Weber.

1825
His Messe solennelle is successfully performed at Saint-Roch on 10 July. The
autograph score, believed to have been destroyed by him in 1827, is
miraculously discovered in 1991 in a chest in the Church of St Carolus
Borromeus in Antwerp.
Berlioz starts working on an opera, Les Francs-Juges, on a libretto by his
friend Humbert Ferrand.
During the winter he composes La Rvolution grecque (La Scne hroque).
1826
He is eliminated from the preliminary round of the Prix de Rome competition, his
fugue submitted for consideration is unsuccessful (early July).
He enrols at the Conservatoire in classes of Lesueur and Reicha (October).
He completes Les Francs-Juges in October. The libretto is later rejected by the
Opra (May 1828).
1827
He is engaged as a chorister at the Thtre des Nouveauts, to supplement his
reduced monthly allowance from his father (March onwards).
He enters the Prix de Rome competition; his cantata La Mort dOrphe does not
win any of the two prizes (late July). The judges reject it on the ground that it
was not playable (on the piano).
He composes the overture Waverley, inspired by Walter Scotts Waverley Novels.
He sees two plays by Shakespeare staged by an English theatrical group at
the Odon: Hamlet on 11 September and Romeo and Juliet on 15
September. Harriet Smithson, the Irish actress plays the roles of Ophelia and
Juliet. Berlioz discovers Shakespeare and falls instantly in love with the
interpreter of two of his most famous characters.
The second performance of the Messe solennelle takes place at Saint-Eustache on
22 November, with Berlioz himself conducting for the first time.

1828
He hears Beethovens Third and Fifth symphonies played at the Conservatoire,
conducted by Habeneck (March onwards).
Berlioz gives his first orchestral concert on 26 May.
He enters the Prix de Rome competition for the second time; his
cantata Herminie wins the second prize (July).
He discovers Goethes Faust, through Nervals French translation, which will be
the inspiration behind the Huit scnes de Faust that he starts later in the year
(September onwards).
1829
Huit scnes de Faust is published as opus 1 (late March-early April); Berlioz will
later withdraw all the unsold copies. This work will in future be developed to
form parts of La Damnation de Faust.
Le Ballet des ombres is published as opus 2 (December). Some music of this
work will many years later be reused in the scherzo of Romo et Juliette.
He hears Beethovens last quartets (March onwards).
Berliozs cantata Cloptre fails to win the prize at his third attempt to win the
Prix de Rome (July).
He gives his second public concert on 1 November, the programme consists of
works by himself and Beethoven.
Composition of Neuf mlodies irlandaises, setting Thomas Moores poems to
music.
Revision of Les Francs Juges; the new libretto by Humbert Ferrand requires 5 or
six new movements; there is no evidence that Berlioz wrote them. The new
libretto is rejected by the Opra in any case.
Berlioz reuses some of the music from the opera in his later works notably
the Symphonie fantastique, Symphonie funbre et triomphale and theRoman
Carnival scene of Benvenuto Cellini. Of the opera the overture and

some fragments survive. Berlioz conducted a number of performances of the

work during his career, and it has remained in the repertoire ever since.
1830
Composition of the Symphonie fantastique (January-April).
He starts a relationship with Camille Moke, a young talented pianist. This is, it
seems, his first relationship with a woman. They are subsequently engaged.
His cantata Sardanapale, which Berlioz described as a conventional academic
piece of work, wins the first prize in the Prix de Rome competition(late July).
Only a small fragment of this cantata has survived.
Arrangement of the Marseillaise (July-August); composition of the overture La
Tempte, inspired by Shakespeares The Tempest (August-October).
The Symphonie fantastique is premired at the Conservatoire on 5 December,
conducted by Habeneck.
Berlioz meets Liszt, who has attended the concert; it is the beginning of a long
friendship between the two men which continues until the late 1850s. Later Liszt,
who will champion Berlioz for years to come, transcribes the Symphonie
fantastique for piano.
On 30 December he leaves Paris for Italy, spending some time en route in La
Cte, Grenoble, and Lyon. As a Prix de Rome Laureate he is requiredto spend
two years in Italy; his stay will in fact be much shorter.
1831
He arrives in Rome in March 1831 via Marseille and Florence, and joins his
fellow laureates at the French Academy in the Villa Medici. The Director of the
Academy at the time was the painter Horace Vernet.
He meets Mendelssohn in Rome for the first time; they will meet again some
years later when Berlioz goes on his first concert tour in Germany(1843).
He receives a letter from Camille Mokes mother informing him that she has
called off their engagement and married M. Camille Pleyel, a rich piano
manufacturer (mid April). He decides to return to Paris to take revenge and kill

all three but by the time he arrives in Nice (at the time part of Italy) he has
calmed down and decides to stay put.
While in Nice he composes the overture Le roi Lear, inspired by Shakespeares
play of the same title, and starts work on the overture Rob Roy, and on Le retour
la vie (The Return to Life), later called Llio; the music is largely based on
previously written pieces.
The premire of Meyerbeers Robert le Diable at the Opra is an outstanding
success (21 November).

3. 1832-1842: Musical career in Paris

1832
Berlioz composes the song La Captive in Subiaco (February), which is dedicated
to Mademoiselle Louise Vernet.
While in Italy, Emile Signol draws Berliozs 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 Cte, where he briefly sees Estelle Fornier at
the coach station to deliver her a letter at his mothers request.
On his return to Paris he meets the writer Ernest Legouv who becomes a lifelong friend.
He plans a concert which takes place on 9 December; it consists of
the Symphonie fantastique and Llio, and is conducted by Habeneck. Among the
audience are the lite of Paris Society: Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas pre,
Heinrich Heine, Paganini, Liszt, Chopin, George Sand, Alfred de
Vigny, Thophile 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 dOrtigue, published on
23 December in the Revue de Paris.
1833
Rob Roy, composed in 1831 during the time he spent in Italy, is performed on 14
April.
After a prolonged and (for Berlioz) painful courtship, Hector and Harriet marry
on 3 October at the British Embassy in Paris; Liszt is one of the witnesses;
Berliozs friend Thomas Gounet pays for the expenses. Berlioz and his bride
spend a short honeymoon in Vincennes near Paris. The marriage takes place
against the vehement opposition of Berliozs family, except for his younger
sister, Adle.
1834
Composition of the symphony with solo viola Harold en Italie at
Paganinis request (January-June).
Berlioz and Harriet move to Montmartre.
Hector and Harriets son Louis is born on 14 August. Berliozs younger sister
Adle is the little boys 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 Dbats, 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 detesthaving to write for various journals in order to
earn a living.
Premire of Harold en Italie at the Conservatoire on 23
November, Girard conducting.
1835

Premire of La Juive by Halvy at the Opra (23 February).

Composition of the cantata Le Cinq Mai, setting to music a poem by Branger on
Napoleons death, first performed at the Conservatoire on 22 November.
He takes over conducting his own music himself and gives a concert at the
Conservatoire (13 December).
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 Lon de Wailly and Auguste Barbier. His friend Ernest
Legouv lends him money which enables him to complete the work.
Berlioz and Harriet attend the premire of Les Huguenots by Meyerbeer at the
Opra (29 February).
Berlioz moves back from Montmartre to Paris (September).
Harriet Smithson appears on stage for the last time (17 December).
1837
The Grande messe des morts (Requiem) is commissioned (March) and composed
between April and June. It is performed under Habenecks baton at
the Invalides on 5 December.
1838
Berliozs mother dies on 18 February.
Benvenuto Cellini is premired at the Opra on 10 September; it is greeted with
organised hostility and ends in failure.
After hearing Harold en Italie performed at the Conservatoire (16 December),
Paganini gives Berlioz 20,000 francs.
1839

Publication of the overture to Benvenuto Cellini, dedicated to Ernest

Legouv (January).
Thanks to Paganinis gift Berlioz is able to devote much of his time to
the composition of Romo et Juliette which is completed on 8 September. The
work is dedicated to Paganini, who died the following year without hearing the
work.
Berlioz becomes Deputy Librarian (Conservateur adjoint) of the Conservatoire
Library (9 February).
Berlioz is made Chevalier de la Lgion dhonneur (10 May).
First three performances of Romo et Juliette under Berliozs direction at the
Conservatoire on 24 November, 1 and 15 December; Wagner is present at the last
performance.
Paul de Pommayrac draws a miniature portrait of Berlioz, which is now in
the Muse Hector Berlioz at La Cte Saint-Andr.
1840
The Symphonie funbre 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 Cte (September).
1841
Composition of the Rverie et caprice for violin and orchestra, based on a
discarded aria from Benvenuto Cellini (March).
Berlioz writes recitatives for a production of Webers Der Freischtz at the Opra
(May), and also orchestrates Webers Invitation la valse to provide ballet music
for it (May-June).

Webers Der Freischtz is performed at the Opra with recitatives by Berlioz

(first performance on 9 June).
Les Nuits dt (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
Lewiss The Monk, on a libretto by Eugne Scribe (September).
Start of a series of 16 articles On Orchestration (De lInstrumentation) 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.

4. 1842-1848: Musical career abroad (1)

1842
Completion of the ballad La Mort dOphlie on a poem by Legouv (7 May),
inspired by Shakespeares Hamlet.
Concert tour to Brussels (September-October), as a preliminary to the first of
many of Berliozs 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.
1843
Concert tour continues
through Hechingen, Mannheim, Weimar, Leipzig, Dresden, Brunswick, Hamburg
, Berlin, Hanover and Darmstadt (January to May).
On this tour he meets many composers Mendelssohn (for the second time,
in Leipzig), Marschner (in Hanover), Wagner (in Dresden),Meyerbeer (in Berlin)

and Schumann (in Leipzig), who in 1835 had written an enthusiastic article on
the Symphonie fantastique.
Berlioz returns to Paris in late May/early June.
Start of the serialisation of the Voyage musical en Allemagne in the Journal des
Dbats (from 13 August). This will be later incorporated in hisMemoirs.
Composition of the overture Le Carnaval romain, based on music from act I
of Benvenuto Cellini (completed in early January 1844).
1844
Publication of the treatise on orchestration, the Grand trait dinstrumentation et
dorchestration modernes (January).
The overture Le Carnaval romain is premired as a concert piece at the Salle
Herz (3 February); the work was dedicated to the Prince of HohenzollernHechingen.
Start of the serialisation in Revue et gazette musicale of Euphonia, ou la ville
musicale (from 18 February), later incorporated in Les Soires de lorchestre.
Composition of the Hymne la France (June) for the Festival of Industry concert
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 renamedLe 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 Alexanders melodiumorgan and of the Marche Funbre pour la dernire scne dHamlet (the latter
piece was never performed in Berliozs lifetime).
1845
He gives four large-scale concerts at the Cirque Olympique (19 January, 16
February, 16 March, 6 April), the last two of which include music byGlinka.
Berliozs first concert tour in France: concerts in Marseille (19 and 25 June)
and Lyon (20 and 24 July). Brief visit to La Cte to see his father (9 July). While
in Lyon Berlioz meets again his old guitar teacher Dorant.
He attends the celebrations for the inauguration of Beethovens statue in
Bonn (10-12 August), and writes a report on it, later included in Les Soires de
lorchestre.
Start of the composition of La Damnation de Faust (September), which
incorporates in a revised version the music from his earlier work, Huit scnes de
Faust.
In October he leaves for Vienna where he gives three concerts (16, 23, 29
November). While there, August Prinzhofer draws Berliozs portrait(between 2
November and 31 December) and Joseph Kriehuber also draws
his portrait (between 20 and 29 November).
1846
Continuation of the concert tour in Germany and central Europe: Prague, back to
Vienna, Pesth (in modern Hungary), Breslau, Prague again andBrunswick.
In January a poem in honour of Berlioz by the Viennese writer Johann Hofzinser
is published in the journal Der Wanderer, and it looks forward to Berliozs
forthcoming trip to Hungary.
At the request of a Hungarian friend, Berlioz orchestrates Hungarys national
anthem which is enthusiastically received when he conducts it at a
concert in Budapest; he later incorporates it in the Damnation of Faust as
the Hungarian March (Marche hongroise).

A second portrait of Berlioz by Prinzhofer in Vienna (between 1 January and 28

February).
Joseph Kriehuber draws a group picture of Berlioz and friends entitled Une
matine chez Liszt (April.)
He returns to Paris in May.
Early in June he is commissioned to compose Chant des chemins de fer on a text
by Jules Janin, which is performed in Lille (14 June) as part of the inauguration
ceremony of the railway line between that city and Paris.
Performance of the Requiem at Saint-Eustache in memory of Gluck (20 August).
Completion of the composition of La Damnation de Faust (19 October) which
is premired at the Salle Favart on 6 December and repeated on 20 December; it
is a failure and leaves Berlioz heavily in debt.
1847
Berlioz makes his first visit to Russia (February-May); on 14 February he leaves
Paris for Saint-Petersburg via Brussels and Berlin.
While in Saint-Petersburg, Berlioz meets Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein for the first
time.
After a successful series of concerts in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow he returns
home via Riga and Berlin, where he gives two concerts, withHarold en Italie,
excerpts from La Damnation de Faust and other pieces in Riga (29 May) and La
Damnation de Faust in Berlin (19 June).
Berlioz arrives in Paris in the last week of June.
He abandons the composition of La Nonne sanglante. Fragments of this opera
survive. The libretto was later set to music by Gounod, and Berliozreviewed the
first performance of the work in 1854.
Start of the serialisation in the Journal des Dbats of his account of his travels in
central Europe and Russia (from 24 August), later incorporated in the Memoirs.

Visit of Berlioz to La Cte with his son Louis (8-20 September). This is Louiss
first visit to his grandfathers home.
On 3 November he departs for London to make the first of his five visits. This
visit will last over seven months (November 1847 - July 1848); he is engaged as
conductor by Jullien, director of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
For the best part of this visit Berlioz stays at 76 Harley Street, which belongs to
Jullien.

5. 1848-1856: Musical career abroad (2)

1848
The February Revolution breaks out in Paris.
Berlioz begins the writing of his Memoirs in March during the stay in London.
His mistress Marie Recio joins him in London in April; they move to 26
Osnaburgh Street (since demolished and replaced by a block of flats).
Berlioz remains in London until mid-July.
His father Dr Louis Berlioz dies at La Cte on 28 July; Berlioz goes to La Cte
on 21 August "to mourn the death of his father with his sisters"Nanci and Adle.
He also makes a pilgrimage to Meylan, where he first met Estelle Dubuf back
in 1815.
He returns to Paris in mid-September, and stays at 15 rue de la Rochefoucauld.
Harriet suffers a series of strokes which leave her almost paralysed. She needs
constant attention and four servants look after her continuously; all paid for by
Berlioz who visits her almost daily when he is in Paris.
Start of the composition of the Te Deum (October, completed in August 1849).
Berlioz conducts a concert in the palace of Versailles (29 October).

1849
Berlioz moves to 19 rue Boursault (August)..
Publication of Tristia (October), comprising at first Mditation religieuse, and La
Mort dOphlie and later (in 1851) also the Funeral March for the last scene of
Hamlet.
Publication of Vox populi (November), comprising La Menace des Francs and
the Hymne la France.
1850
The Socit philharmonique de Paris, in which Berlioz is heavily involved, is
launched (first concert on 19 February, conducted by Berlioz).
Berlioz succeeds as Librarian at the Paris Conservatoire (27 April); this will be
the only official position that he will ever hold in France, and the only regular
and assured source of income for the rest of his life.
Performance of the Requiem at Saint-Eustache (3 May).
Berliozs sister Nanci dies of breast cancer on 4 May.
Compilation of Feuillets dalbum, comprising Zade, Les Champs, and Chant des
chemins de fer; arrangement of Bortnianskis Chant des chrubins and Pater
noster (September).
Start of the composition of La Fuite en gypte (October, completed by the end of
the year), later incorporated in LEnfance du Christ.
Publication of the collection Fleurs des landes, comprising Le Matin, Petit
oiseau, Le Trbuchet, Le Jeune ptre breton, and Le Chant des
Bretons(November).
1851
Death of Spontini (24 January).
Berlioz applies to become member of the Institut de France to succeed Spontini
(6 March), but is unsuccessful; Ambroise Thomas is elected (22 March).

Second and final season of the Socit philharmonique de Paris (last formal
concert on 29 April).
Berlioz travels to London for the second time between May and July, on official
visit: he is sent by the French government as member of the international
commission examining musical instruments at the Great Exhibition. The
following year he gives a detailed account of this visit in Les Soires de
lorchestre.
1852
Third visit to London, between March and June. Berlioz is engaged by Frederick
Beale, the co-founder of the New Philharmonic Society, to conduct six concerts
for the Society at Exeter Hall.
While Berlioz is still in London, Liszt embarks on the revival in Weimar
of Benvenuto Cellini and conducts on 20, 24 and 27 March performances of what
was to become with Berliozs approval the Weimar version of that opera. These
are the first performances of the work since the disastrous premire in Paris in
1838.
Performance of the Requiem at Saint-Eustache (22 October).
Later in the year Berlioz and Marie Recio travel to Weimar (November) to attend
a "Berlioz week" organised by Liszt. Benvenuto Cellini receives several
performances in its revised Weimar version at the Grand-Ducal Theatre.
Serialisation of Les Soires de lorchestre in Revue et gazette musicale (from 19
September), published as a book in December, with a second edition in 1854.
1853
Berlioz travels to London for the fourth time, from mid-May to mid-July. He is
invited by Frederick Gye, the director of Covent Garden, to produce and
conduct Benvenuto Cellini at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden. Berlioz
withdraws it after one performance (25 June), because of the audiences hostile
reception.
First visit to Baden-Baden to conduct a concert on 11 August; the concert is part
of an annual festival which douard Bnazet, the director of the Casino, has

asked Berlioz to organise. The visit to Baden-Baden is followed by a trip

to Frankfurt, where he gives two concerts (20, 24 August).
He embarks on a concert tour in
Germany: Brunswick, Hanover, Bremen and Leipzig, between October and
December.
1854
Harriet Smithson dies on 3 March and is buried the next day in the Cimetire
Saint-Vincent, a small cemetery in Montmartre. Later in 1864 she will
be moved to Montmartre Cemetery, to her final resting place which she will
share with Berlioz and his second wife Marie Recio.
Another concert tour in Germany: Hanover, Brunswick and Dresden (late March
to early May).
Composition of the cantata LImpriale (before July).
Completion of the composition of LEnfance du Christ (July).
Trip to La Cte to settle his fathers inheritance (September).
Completion of the main part of Berliozs Memoirs (the last numbered chapter
[59] is dated 18 October 1854). Later three new sections will be added:
the Postscript, Postface and Trip to Dauphin, respectively in 1856, 1864 and
1865 (the final version).
On 19 October Berlioz marries Marie Recio; he writes to his son that, having
lived with her for 14 years, it was his duty to do so.
First performance of the complete LEnfance du Christ at the Salle Herz (10
December); the work is warmly received.
1855
Revised version of Le Retour la vie, now called Llio (January).
Berlioz gives concerts in Weimar in February and Brussels in March.
The Te Deum is premired at Saint-Eustache on 30 April, Berlioz conducting.

Fifth and last visit to London between June and July Berlioz is engaged
by Henry Wylde, the co-founder of the New Philharmonic Society, to conduct
two concerts for the Society at Exeter Hall. During his stay he has a long meeting
with Wagner at Saintons flat. Berlioz leaves England on 7 July never to return.
Berlioz serves on the jury of the Exposition universelle held in Paris (AugustSeptember).
In November, Berlioz gives three concerts at the Palais de lIndustrie, including
the first performance of LImpriale.
Publication from November 1855 to April 1856 of Berliozs account of his first
trip to Russia in the Magasin des Demoiselles.
Publication late in the year of the second revised edition of the Treatise on
Instrumentation and Orchestration which now includes a new chapter,Le Chef
dorchestre thorie de son art (The Conductor Theory of his Art).

6. 1856-1863: Les Troyens

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 dt.
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 Virgils Aeneid, which Berlioz had first read as a
child under his fathers 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 Adams chair at the Institut de France (21 June). In July and
August he visits Plombires (to take waters on his doctors advice) and BadenBaden for the annual concert.
Berlioz and Marie move to 4 rue de Calais in October; this will be Berliozs 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.
1857
Continuation of the composition of Les Troyens.
Drawings and portrait of Berlioz by Nadar (January).
Webers Oberon and Euryanthe are revived at the Thtre-Lyrique (6 March and
1 September) and reviewed by Berlioz.
Visit to Plombires and Baden-Baden in July and August.
1858
Completion of the score of Les Troyens (April); further revisions will be made
later.
Visit to Baden-Baden in August. Bnazet commissions a new opera from Berlioz;
the opera will not in fact be written, and two years later Berlioz will
write Batrice et Bndict instead.
Berlioz stops in Strasbourg on his way back from Baden-Baden.
Parts of the Memoirs are serialised in Le Monde illustr, starting in September
until September of the following year.
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 Glucks opera Orphe at the Thtre-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 Bnazet to cancel his commission for Baden-Baden.
1860
The Thtre-Lyrique agrees to stage Les Troyens (January).
Review of Wagners concerts in the Journal des Dbats (9 February), later
incorporated in A Travers Chants.
Open letter by Wagner in the Journal des Dbats in reply to Berlioz (22
February).
Berliozs younger sister Adle 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 Beethovens opera Fidelio at the Thtre-Lyrique
in the Journal des Dbats (19 and 22 May); the articles are later reproduced in A
Travers Chants.
Berlioz visits Baden Baden (August), with a stop at Luxueil on the way.
Berlioz decides to have the vocal score of Les Troyens printed at his own expense
(September); this appeared in 1862.
Berlioz starts composing Batrice et Bndict (October), which Bnazet will
accept for the inauguration of the new theatre in Baden-Baden.
1861
Composition of Le Temple universel (January-February).

Berlioz receives a silver crown from the youth of Gyr to thank him for
the Hungarian March (early February).
First performance of Wagners Tannhuser at the Opra, in the presence of
Berlioz (13 March).
Les Troyens is dropped by the Thtre-Lyrique but accepted by the Opra (June).
Visit to Baden-Baden in August; the concert on the 26th is attended by Berliozs
nieces Josphine and Nanci Suat as well as by their father.
Articles on Glucks setting of Alceste in the Journal des Dbats (OctoberDecember), subsequently reproduced in Travers Chants.
1862
Completion of Batrice et Bndict, loosely based on Shakespeares Much ado
about nothing; both libretto and score are by Berlioz himself. The autograph
score is dated 25 February 1862.
Death of Halvy (17 March); Berlioz fails in his application to succeed him as
permanent secretary of the Acadmie des beaux-arts.
Berliozs second wife, Marie Recio, dies of a heart attack on 13 June at the age of
48, while staying with some friends at Saint-Germain near Paris. She is buried
at Montmartre Cemetery on 16 June and later moved to a private plot donated by
one of Berliozs friends douard Alexandre.
Berlioz meets a young woman called Amlie at Montmartre Cemetery; though
she is only 24 he comes close to her (late June).
First performances of Batrice et Bndict at Baden-Baden on 9 and 11
August. Madame Charton-Demeur sings the role of Batrice.
Berlioz gives to Vladimir Stasov the manuscript of his Te Deum which he
donates to the municipal library of St-Petersburg (11 September)
Publication of Travers Chants (September).
1863

Berlioz ends his relationship with Amlie at her request and is deeply upset (midFebruary)
Les Troyens is dropped by the Opra but accepted by Carvalho, director of the
newly re-built Thtre-Lyrique (mid February).
Visit to Weimar in April to conduct Batrice et Bndict in German translation
and in an augmented form (8 and 10 April); while in Germany he also goes
to Lwenberg to give a concert there (19 April).
He conducts LEnfance du Christ in Strasbourg on 22 June.
Visit to Baden-Baden in August to revive Batrice et Bndict in an augmented
form (14 and 18 August).
Berlioz publishes his last signed article for the Journal des Dbats on 8 October,
on Bizets opera Les Pcheurs de perles [The Pearl Fishers].
He encounters great difficulties in staging Les Troyens in a truncated form at the
Thtre-Lyrique. It is eventually premired 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 Troyensstaged complete and
without cuts in 2003 at the Thtre du Chtelet, on the opposite side of the Place
du Chtelet.

7. 1864-1869: Final years

1864
Arrangement of the Marche troyenne as a concert piece (January).
Harriet Smithsons 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 Dbats (end March).
Death of Meyerbeer (2 May).

Berlioz adds the Postface to the Memoirs (first half of July)

Berlioz is made Officier de la Lgion dhonneur at the same time as his
friend Legouv (12 August).
On 22 August, Berlioz hears from a friend that Amlie, who was suffering from
poor health, had died at the age of 26. A week later, while walking in the
Montmartre Cemetery, Berlioz discovers Amlies grave; she had been dead for
six months. He is devastated.
Berlioz travels to Dauphin to visit relatives: Adles family in Vienne (30
August), Camille Pal (Nancis 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 Dauphin, 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 Bibliothque nationale de France in Paris, and another in the Hector
Berlioz Museum in La Cte).
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).
1866
Berlioz meets Liszt for the last time (21 April).
Last meeting with his son Louis (early August).
Visit to Estelle Fornier in Geneva (15-19 September).
Successful revival of Glucks Alceste at the Opra (first performance on 12
October). During the preceding months Berlioz had supervised the rehearsals
(from July onwards).

Death of Joseph dOrtigue, one of Berliozs closest friends (20 November).

Visit to Vienna in December to conduct the first complete performance there
of La Damnation de Faust (16 December).
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 Adles family in Vienne in August and Estelle Fornier in St
Symphorien, where she now lives with her son Henri 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 Yelena Pavlovna to make a concert
tour in Russia (18 September).
Departure from Paris for Russia (12 November).
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 preside over a choral
competition.
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 glise de la Trinit (11 March). He joins
his two wives at Montmartre Cemetery.