"Les Troyens Les Troyens (in English: ""The Trojans"") is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the "" Aeneid""; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. ""Les Troyens"" is Berlioz's most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career, but he did not live to see it performed in its entirety. Under the title ""Les Troyens à Carthage"", the last three acts were premièred with many cuts by Léon Carvalho's company, the Théâtre Lyrique, at their theatre (now the Théâtre de la Ville) on"
"Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (; ; 11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer. His output includes orchestral works such as the ""Symphonie fantastique"" and ""Harold in Italy"", choral pieces including the Requiem and ""L'enfance du Christ"", his three operas ""Benvenuto Cellini"", ""Les Troyens"" and ""Béatrice et Bénédict"", and works of hybrid genres such as the ""dramatic symphony"" ""Roméo et Juliette"" and the ""dramatic legend"" ""La damnation de Faust"". The elder son of a provincial doctor, Berlioz was expected to follow his father into medicine, and he attended a Parisian medical college before defying his family"
"Les francs-juges Les francs-juges (translated as ""The Free Judges"" or ""The Judges of the Secret Court"") is the title of an unfinished opera by the French composer Hector Berlioz written to a libretto by his friend Humbert Ferrand in 1826. Berlioz abandoned the incomplete composition and destroyed most of the music. He retained the overture, which has become a popular concert item, and used some other musical material in later compositions. Ferrand was a law student with a love of poetry who became a lifelong friend of Berlioz. He had already written the words to a cantata for the composer,"
"no longer the normal practice to present it across two evenings. ""Les Troyens"", in Holoman's view, embodies the composer's artistic creed: the union of music and poetry holds ""incomparably greater power than either art alone"". The last of Berlioz's operas is the Shakespearean comedy ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" (1862), written, the composer said, as a relaxation after his efforts with ""Les Troyens"". He described it as ""a caprice written with the point of a needle"". His libretto, based on ""Much Ado About Nothing"", omits Shakespeare's darker sub-plots and replaces the clowns Dogberry and Verges with an invention of his own, the"
"it in 1833 (S.471). Les francs-juges Les francs-juges (translated as ""The Free Judges"" or ""The Judges of the Secret Court"") is the title of an unfinished opera by the French composer Hector Berlioz written to a libretto by his friend Humbert Ferrand in 1826. Berlioz abandoned the incomplete composition and destroyed most of the music. He retained the overture, which has become a popular concert item, and used some other musical material in later compositions. Ferrand was a law student with a love of poetry who became a lifelong friend of Berlioz. He had already written the words to a"
"spent five years trying to have it staged. In June 1862 Berlioz's wife died suddenly, aged 48. She was survived by her mother, to whom Berlioz was devoted, and who looked after him for the rest of his life. ""Les Troyens"" – a five-act, five-hour opera – was on too large a scale to be acceptable to the management of the Opéra, and Berlioz's efforts to have it staged there failed. The only way he could find of seeing the work produced was to divide it into two parts: ""The Fall of Troy"" and ""The Trojans at Carthage"". The latter,"
"Béatrice et Bénédict Béatrice et Bénédict (""Beatrice and Benedick"") is an opéra comique in two acts by Hector Berlioz. Berlioz wrote the French libretto himself, based closely on Shakespeare's ""Much Ado About Nothing"". Berlioz had been interested in setting Shakespeare's comedy since his return from Italy in 1833, but only composed the score of ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" following the completion of ""Les Troyens"" in 1858. It was first performed at the opening of the Theater Baden-Baden on 9 August 1862. Berlioz conducted the first two performances of a German version in Weimar in 1863, where, as he wrote in his"
"of mismanagement by his impresario, the conductor Louis-Antoine Jullien. Soon after Berlioz's return to Paris in mid-September 1848, Harriet suffered a series of strokes, which left her almost paralysed. She needed constant nursing, which he paid for. When in Paris he visited her continually, sometimes twice a day. After the failure of ""La damnation de Faust"", Berlioz spent less time on composition during the next eight years. He wrote a Te Deum, completed in 1849 but not published until 1855, and some short pieces. His most substantial work between ""The Damnation"" and his epic ""Les Troyens"" (1856–1858) was a ""sacred"
"escape the persecution of King Herod, which was first published in 1852. This became the core of the oratorio ""L'enfance du Christ"". ""Béatrice et Bénédict"". Overture to the opera of the same name, composed in 1862. ""Les Troyens à Carthage: Prologue"" (The Trojans at Carthage: Prologue) Berlioz's epic opera ""Les Troyens"" was never performed complete during his lifetime. In an attempt to have the opera staged by the Théâtre Lyrique in 1863, he split it into two parts, with acts 1 and 2 becoming ""La prise de Troie"" (""The Capture of Troy"") and acts 3–5 ""Les Troyens à Carthage"". Only"
"presented the opera in a new production directed by Sir David McVicar that originated at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It featured Susan Graham as Dido, Anna Caterina Antonacci as Cassandra, and Bryan Hymel as Énée, conducted by Donald Runnicles. Only knowing the work from a piano score, the British critic W.J. Turner declared that ""Les Troyens"" was ""the greatest opera ever written"" in his 1934 book on Berlioz, much preferring it to the vastly more popular works of Richard Wagner. American critic B. H. Haggin heard in the work Berlioz's ""arrestingly individual musical mind operating in, and commanding"
"Le Chant des chemins de fer Le Chant des chemins de fer (The Song of the Railways) is a cantata in B minor by Hector Berlioz for tenor solo, choir and orchestra composed in June 1846 on lyrics by Jules Janin and premiered June 14 1846 for the inauguration of the gare de Lille. The work was commissioned by the city of Lille. According to his correspondence, Berlioz composed it in a hurry in three nights, interrupting the writing of ""La Damnation de Faust"". Berlioz, who travelled on the inaugural train, spent eight days in Lille and conducted ""Le Chant"
"the latter was accepted and Berlioz wrote an orchestral prologue to introduce this version evoking the tragic fate of Troy. The individual overtures have been recorded many times. This is a partial list of collections exclusively devoted to Berlioz's overtures: Overtures by Hector Berlioz The French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a number of overtures, many of which have become popular concert items. They include overtures intended to introduce operas as well as independent concert overtures. ""Les francs-juges"", Op. 3. Composed 1826. The overture to Berlioz's first attempt at opera, which was never staged. The overture was first performed in the"
"Voigt, Françoise Pollet and Gary Lakes which was subsequently recorded by DECCA. To mark the bicentenary of Berlioz's birth in 2003, ""Les Troyens"" was revived in productions at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (conducted by John Eliot Gardiner), Amsterdam (conducted by Edo de Waart), and at the Met (with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson as Dido, conducted by Levine). The Met production, by Francesca Zambello, was revived in the 2012–13 season with Susan Graham as Dido, Deborah Voigt as Cassandra, and Marcello Giordani and Bryan Hymel as Énée, conducted by Fabio Luisi. During June and July 2015 the San Francisco Opera"
"grudgingly admired some works by Rossini, he despised what he saw as the showy effects of the Italian style and longed to return opera to the dramatic truth of Gluck. He was also a fully-fledged Romantic, keen to find new ways of musical expression. His first and only work for the Paris Opéra, ""Benvenuto Cellini"" (1838), was a notorious failure. Audiences could not understand the opera's originality and musicians found its unconventional rhythms impossible to play. Twenty years later, Berlioz began writing his operatic masterpiece ""Les Troyens"" with himself rather than audiences of the day in mind. ""Les Troyens"" was"
"attention with, the use of the [Berlioz] idiom with assured mastery and complete adequacy to the text's every demand"". David Cairns described the work as ""an opera of visionary beauty and splendor, compelling in its epic sweep, fascinating in the variety of its musical invention... it recaptures the tragic spirit and climate of the ancient world."" Hugh Macdonald said of it: In the history of French music, ""Les Troyens"" stands out as a grand opera that avoided the shallow glamour of Meyerbeer and Halévy, but therefore paid the price of long neglect. In our own time the opera has finally"
"and Susan Graham. By far the most recorded of Berlioz's works is the ""Symphonie fantastique"". The discography of the British Hector Berlioz website lists 96 recordings, from the pioneering version by Gabriel Pierné and the Concerts Colonne in 1928 to those conducted by Beecham, Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch, Herbert von Karajan and Otto Klemperer to more recent versions including those of Boulez, Marc Minkowski, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and François-Xavier Roth. Works Writings Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (; ; 11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer. His output includes orchestral works such as the ""Symphonie fantastique"" and"
"comique"" also enjoyed tremendous success in the hands of Boïeldieu, Auber, Hérold and Adam. In this climate, the operas of the French-born composer Hector Berlioz struggled to gain a hearing. Berlioz's epic masterpiece ""Les Troyens"", the culmination of the Gluckian tradition, was not given a full performance for almost a hundred years. In the second half of the 19th century, Jacques Offenbach created operetta with witty and cynical works such as ""Orphée aux enfers"", as well as the opera ""Les Contes d'Hoffmann""; Charles Gounod scored a massive success with ""Faust""; and Georges Bizet composed ""Carmen"", which, once audiences learned to"
"Il Filostrato Il Filostrato is a poem by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, and the inspiration for Geoffrey Chaucer's ""Troilus and Criseyde"" and, through Chaucer, the Shakespeare play ""Troilus and Cressida"". It is itself loosely based on ""Le Roman de Troie"", by 12th-century poet Benoît de Sainte-Maure. ""Il Filostrato"" is a narrative poem on a classical topic written in ""royal octaves"" (""ottava rima"") and divided into eight cantos. The title, a combination of Greek and Latin words, can be translated approximately as ""laid prostrate by love"". The poem has a mythological plot: it narrates the love of Troilo (Troilus), a"
"consisting of the final three acts of the original, was presented at the Théâtre‐Lyrique, Paris, in November 1863, but even that truncated version was further truncated: during the run of 22 performances, number after number was cut. The experience demoralised Berlioz, who wrote no more music after this. Berlioz did not seek a revival of ""Les Troyens"" and none took place for nearly 30 years. He sold the publishing rights for a large sum, and his last years were financially comfortable; he was able to give up his work as a critic, but he lapsed into depression. As well as"
"Les troqueurs Les troqueurs (""The Barterers"") is a comic opera in one act by the French composer Antoine Dauvergne, first performed at the Foire Saint-Laurent in Paris on 30 July 1753 and revived by the Opéra-Comique at the Hôtel de Bourgogne on 26 February 1762. The libretto, by Jean-Joseph Vadé, is based on the tale in verse of the same name by La Fontaine. Although designated an ""opéra bouffon"" or an ""intermède"", ""Les troqueurs"" is famous as an important work in the development of ""opéra comique"". Since 1752, musical life in Paris had been wracked by the so-called ""Querelle des"
"found the new genre of Grand opera, a form whose most famous exponent was Giacomo Meyerbeer. Lighter ""opéra comique"" also enjoyed tremendous success in the hands of Boïeldieu, Auber, Hérold and Adam. In this climate, the operas of the French-born composer Hector Berlioz struggled to gain a hearing. Berlioz's epic masterpiece ""Les Troyens"", the culmination of the Gluckian tradition, was not given a full performance for almost a hundred years after it was written. In the second half of the 19th century, Jacques Offenbach dominated the new genre of operetta with witty and cynical works such as ""Orphée aux enfers"";"
"presence of thirty-three foreign heads of state or heads of government. A semi-staged gala concert, directed by Robert Wilson under the title ""la Nuit avant le jour"" (""The Night Before the Day""), was conducted by Georges Prêtre and featured singers such as Teresa Berganza and Plácido Domingo. The Paris Opera's traditional Bastille Day free concert was given there the following day. The house, which was unfinished at the time of the official inauguration, did not see its first opera performance until 17 March 1990, with Hector Berlioz’ ""les Troyens"", directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi. The Opéra Bastille's management and public"
"L'enfance du Christ L'enfance du Christ (""The Childhood of Christ""), Opus 25, is an oratorio by the French composer Hector Berlioz, based on the Holy Family's flight into Egypt (see Gospel of Matthew 2:13). Berlioz wrote his own words for the piece. Most of it was composed in 1853 and 1854, but it also incorporates an earlier work ""La fuite en Egypte"" (1850). It was first performed at the Salle Herz, Paris on 10 December 1854, with Berlioz conducting and soloists from the Opéra-Comique: Jourdan (Récitant), Depassio (Hérode), the couple Meillet (Marie and Joseph) and Bataille (Le père de famille)."
"of disciples in Paris, who would dominate the French stage throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period. As well as Salieri, they included Sacchini, Cherubini, Méhul and Spontini. His greatest French admirer would be Hector Berlioz, whose epic ""Les Troyens"" may be seen as the culmination of the Gluckian tradition. Though Gluck wrote no operas in German, his example influenced the German school of opera, particularly Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, whose concept of music drama was not so far removed from Gluck's own. Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; born on 2 July, baptized 4"
"Rome. Macdonald comments that after his time there, Berlioz had ""a new colour and glow in his music ... sensuous and vivacious"" – derived not from Italian painting, in which he was uninterested, or Italian music, which he despised, but from ""the scenery and the sun, and from his acute sense of locale"". Macdonald identifies ""Harold in Italy"", ""Benvenuto Cellini"" and ""Roméo et Juliette"" as the most obvious expressions of his response to Italy, and adds that ""Les Troyens"" and ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" ""reflect the warmth and stillness of the Mediterranean, as well as its vivacity and force"". Berlioz himself"
"the words of Venus, not Pallas, and sets sail with Pâris in an ecstatic embrace. Hélène (opera) Hélène is a poème lyrique or opera in one act by composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It is the first opera for which Saint-Saëns wrote his own French libretto, which is based on the classic story of Helen of Troy and Paris from Greek mythology. The opera premiered at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in Monaco on 18 February 1904. Moderately successful, the opera enjoyed a handful of revivals up through 1919, after which it fell out of the performance repertoire. The work was resurrected in"
"Les nuits d'été Les nuits d'été (""Summer Nights""), Op. 7, is a song cycle by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It is a setting of six poems by Théophile Gautier. The cycle, completed in 1841, was originally for soloist and piano accompaniment. Berlioz orchestrated one of the songs in 1843, and did the same for the other five in 1856. The cycle was neglected for many years, but during the 20th century it became, and has remained, one of the composer's most popular works. The full orchestral version is more frequently performed in concert and on record than the piano"
"edited by Hugh Macdonald, was published by Bärenreiter Verlag, as part of the ""New Berlioz Edition"". The critical edition takes into account all of the available editions: The original production at the Paris Opéra had costumes designed by Paul Lormier and sets by René-Humanité Philastre and Charles-Antoine Cambon. Occasional performances took place after Berlioz's death: in Hanover in 1879, Vienna in 1911, and as part of the inaugural season at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées for six performances from 31 March 1913 conducted by Felix Weingartner. Following ""Les Troyens"" in 1935, the Glasgow Grand Opera Society mounted the opera alongside a"
"Gluck (the dominant operatic influence of the time in France) and prefigures grand opera. The work had an influence on Le Sueur's most famous pupil, Hector Berlioz. Ossian, ou Les bardes Ossian, ou Les bardes (English: ""Ossian, or The Bards"") is an opera in five acts by the French composer Jean-François Le Sueur. The libretto, by Alphonse François ""Paul"" Palat-Dercy and Jacques-Marie Deschamps, is based on the Ossian poems of James Macpherson (specifically the poem ""Calthon and Colmal""), which had been translated into French by Pierre-Prime-Félicien Le Tourneur. Le Sueur probably began work on the opera as early as 1795."
"Roméo et Juliette (Berlioz) Roméo et Juliette is a ""symphonie dramatique,"" a large-scale choral symphony by French composer Hector Berlioz, which was first performed on 24 November 1839. The libretto was written by Émile Deschamps, and the completed work was assigned the catalogue numbers Op. 17 and H. 79. It is based on Shakespeare's play ""Romeo and Juliet""; it is regarded as one of Berlioz's finest works, and it is among the most original in form. The score is Berlioz's most comprehensive and detailed programmatic piece. Initial inspiration came from a performance he witnessed in 1827 of ""Romeo and Juliet"""
"three studio recordings of the orchestral version with multiple singers, as stipulated in the orchestral score; these were conducted by Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Pierre Boulez. Conductors of other versions have included Ernest Ansermet, Sir John Barbirolli, James Levine, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Charles Munch and Fritz Reiner. Les nuits d'été Les nuits d'été (""Summer Nights""), Op. 7, is a song cycle by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It is a setting of six poems by Théophile Gautier. The cycle, completed in 1841, was originally for soloist and piano accompaniment. Berlioz orchestrated one of the songs in 1843,"
"La damnation de Faust La damnation de Faust (English: ""The Damnation of Faust""), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a ""légende dramatique"" (dramatic legend). It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 6 December 1846. The French composer was inspired by a translation of Goethe's dramatic poem ""Faust"" and produced a musical work that, like the masterpiece on which it is based, defies easy categorisation. Conceived at various times as a free-form oratorio and as an opera (Berlioz"
"with operatic life in Paris. In the 1850s, two new theatres attempted to break the monopoly of the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique on the performance of musical drama in the capital. The Théâtre Lyrique ran from 1851 to 1870. It was here in 1863 that Berlioz saw the only part of ""Les Troyens"" to be performed in his lifetime. But the Lyrique also staged the premieres of works by a rising new generation of French opera composers, led by Charles Gounod and Georges Bizet. Though not as innovative as Berlioz, these composers were receptive to new musical influences. They also"