The great 19th century French composer Hector Berlioz holds a unique place in musical history. Far ahead of his time, he was one of the most original of great composers, but also an innovator as a practical musician, and a writer and critic whose literary achievement is hardly less significant than his musical output. Few musicians have ever excelled in all these different fields at once.
Available in English and French, this personal site is devoted to the music, life and works of this great figure. Created, funded and authored by two British academics, the site gives a panoramic view of Berlioz’s life and art, and seeks to recreate the context in which he worked. It also presents regularly updated news on everything which concerns Berlioz: performances of his music world-wide, bibliography, discography, reviews of live performances and contributions from regular visitors to the site. The table below maps out the contents of the site in detail. A separate page provides a short history of the site.
Please note that our site is entirely independent and does not represent or host any organisation or association.
Copyright notice: The Hector Berlioz Website is owned by Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb. 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, reproduction, or adaptation of this material in any form, including Web page use, are reserved. Their use without our explicit permission is illegal.
Last update: 18 April 2025 (the date is linked to the page Updates of the website)
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Table of contents of this site: (a red asterisk (*) indicates an addition or update within the last four weeks)
See also the French
version of the site
 Berlioz: Life and Career
 Table of contents
Berlioz: Musical Works
Table of contents
Berlioz: Literary Works
Berlioz’s Writings
With built-in search function
Berlioz: Musical and Literary Works
(bibliographical information on his musical and literary works)
Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie (1844)
Introduction (in English), excerpts from the
composer’s correspondence (in French), table of contents
Les Soirées de l’Orchestre (1852) (complete text in the original French)
A
Bibliography of Les Soirées de l’Orchestre
Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence
(French text, introduction in English)
Les Grotesques de la Musique (1859) (complete text in the original French)
A
Bibliography of Les Grotesques de la Musique
Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence
(French text, introduction in English)
À Travers Chants (1862) (complete text in the original French)
A Bibliography of À Travers Chants
Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence
(French text, introduction in English)
Mémoires (1870) (complete text in the original French)
A Bibliography of the Mémoires
Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (in French)
Composition and history
Berlioz: Mémoires d’un musicien – Le Monde Illustré 1858-1859
(Introduction and presentation in English)
All the articles published by Berlioz, under the title of “Mémoires d’un musicien”, for Le Monde Illustré in 1858 and 1859 are available on this site.
Berlioz: Voyage en Russie (1847) – Magasin des Demoiselles, XII, 1855-1856
(in the original French, with introduction in French and English) |
Treatise on Instrumentation and Orchestration (Excerpts)
The Conductor – Theory of his Art (complete text in the original French)
Berlioz: Report on the Great Exhibition in London in 1851
Berlioz:
Feuilletons – Journal des Débats 1834 - 1863*
With built-in search function
(Introduction in French and English, feuilletons in French)
Contains the transcription of all the articles that Berlioz wrote for this journal from 1834 to 1863 (nearly 400 in all).
See also:
List of Berlioz’s feuilletons transcribed on this site
Berlioz: Feuilletons – Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence
Berlioz:
Feuilletons – Notices in the Journal des Débats
Letters of the composer at the Hector Berlioz Museum - Chronological tables
(in French, with introduction in English)
Letters of the composer at the Hector Berlioz Museum - Dating
(in French, with introduction in English)
Index of letters of Berlioz cited on this site
Autograph letters of Berlioz on this site:
16 June 1832
18 December 1838
31 July 1852
ca. 13 May 1853
3 December 1853
13 May 1854
12 May 1865 |
Table of contents
Berlioz: Paris – the centre of his activities through most of his life
Table of contents
Berlioz: Travels in France
Table of contents
Berlioz: Travels Abroad
Table of contents
Berlioz: Travels in Germany and Central Europe (1842–1867)
Table of contents
Berlioz in Russia (1847 and 1867-8)
Table of contents
Berlioz: Letters of the composer’s family at the Hector Berlioz Museum
(244 letters and documents from 1823 to 1878; all in French, except for the Introduction)
Table of contents
Berlioz: Predecessors and Contemporaries
(including orchestral scores of the composers who influenced him most)
Table of contents
Berlioz: Pioneers and Champions
Berlioz: Pioneers and Champions: Introduction*
New pages: John Nelson (1941-2025), by Michel Austin
Disparition de John Nelson: une grande perte, by P.-R. Serna (in French)
The Paris Conservatoire and Berlioz: 1869-1914
Berlioz’s operas in France, 1869-1914
Thomas Beecham
Hans von Bülow
See also:
Two articles on Benvenuto Cellini (1852)
Translated from the German by Michel Austin
David Cairns
Édouard Colonne
See also:
Édouard Colonne: textes et documents (1) (in French)
Édouard Colonne: textes et documents (2) (in French)
Colin Davis
Including:
In Memoriam Sir Colin: Je ne vous verrai plus
by Christian Wasselin (in French)
Wilhelm Ganz
See also:
Wilhelm Ganz on Berlioz
Charles Hallé
See also:
Charles Hallé on Berlioz
Hamilton Harty
See also:
Hamilton Harty on Berlioz (1928)
Adolphe Jullien
See also:
Hector Berlioz, 1803-1869 (1870) (in French, introduction in English)
Feuilletons on Berlioz, Journal des Débats 1893-1925
(in French, introduction in English)
Charles Lamoureux
See also:
Articles and reviews relating to Lamoureux’s concerts (in French) |
Hugh Macdonald
Charles Malherbe
Georges de Massougnes
See also:
Georges de Massougnes: BERLIOZ. SON ŒUVRE (1870) (in French)
Auguste Morel
See also:
Auguste Morel and Berlioz (1869-1881) (in French)
Auguste Morel: documents on his career (in French)
Auguste Morel: 3 articles on Benvenuto Cellini (in French)
Felix Mottl
See also:
Felix Mottl: textes et documents (introduction in
English)
Jules Pasdeloup
Ernest Reyer
See also:
Ernest Reyer and Berlioz (Introduction in English and
French)
26 articles by Ernest Reyer (in French)
Julien Tiersot
Julien Tiersot:
Berlioziana (presentation in English)
This page contains all the Berlioziana and other articles on Berlioz published by Tiersot in Le Ménestrel between 1904 and 1911 (127 in all).
Felix Weingartner
See also:
Felix Weingartner: excerpts from Le Ménestrel, 1891-1940 (in French)
Felix Weingartner: 5 articles on Berlioz (translated from the German by Michel Austin)
Felix Weingartner: excerpts from his writings (original German text)
An autograph document of Felix Weingartner
Tom S. Wotton
See also:
Tom S. Wotton, Hector Berlioz (1935)
Complete text, including Index
(with hyperlinks) |
Table of contents
Berlioz in our time: Bibliography, Concerts, Discography, Original contributions, News, Souvenirs, Views and Reviews
Table of contents
|
An invitation extended to all of you
We would like to invite you to contact
us and tell us about events, news, publications, concerts or any
other information related to Hector Berlioz in your community, so that we
can circulate them among Berlioz admirers around the world via this site.
May we take this opportunity to thank our visitors who
have emailed us their contributions, comments, and feedback. They have all
been thanked individually on the site as well via their email address.
Table of contents
Who we are and how to contact us
This personal site is the
result of a private initiative by the husband and wife team of Michel
Austin and Monir Tayeb, both academics by profession, based in
universities in Scotland, and sharing a common enthusiasm for Hector
Berlioz and his achievements. Created in July 1997, and gradually expanded
subsequently, the site is entirely devoted to the genius of Berlioz – his
music, his writings, his career in France and abroad, and his contribution
to musical history.
The site is entirely
independent of any organisation; it is run and maintained by us at our own
expense. It is non-profit-making, does not receive sponsorship or
financial support from any quarter, and does not accept any commercial
advertising.
Through this site we hope
to share and exchange information and news on Berlioz-related events with
Berlioz’s admirers around the world. We are most grateful to our friends
and visitors for their support and look forward to enjoying their
continued encouragement in the future. We would particularly like to thank
our friends Pepijn van Doesburg, Pierre-René Serna and Christian Wasselin
for their major contributions to the site.
Monir Tayeb died suddenly
on 30 July 2021. To commemorate her achievement, two new pages have been
added to this site (1 October 2021): Monir Tayeb
Academic Page, a page she compiled herself some years ago to
summarise her academic career, and Monir and Berlioz,
which outlines her contribution to the Berlioz website over a period of 24
years (see also the entry of the Hector Berlioz Museum in
memory of Monir Tayeb [in French]). Michel Austin will continue to manage the website for the foreseeable future. In the longer term the website will form part of a bequest to St Anne’s College, Oxford, which has generously undertaken to preserve its continued availability on the internet as a closed archive which would no longer be updated, but would contain all the texts, documents and images currently available on the site, together with their search facility.
Please address your
contributions, feedback and enquiries to Michel Austin at the address
below:
Table of contents
Top
The Hector Berlioz Website was created by Monir Tayeb and Michel
Austin on 18 July 1997.
The French version of the Home Page (Page
d’accueil) was created on 3 March 2002. See also Online
Site History.
© Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin. All rights of reproduction reserved.
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