The Musée Hector Berlioz and the Hector Berlioz Website
Our Common Project
|
|
The Musée Hector Berlioz and the Hector Berlioz Website Our Common Project
|
|
On 11th December 2009, on the 206th anniversary of Berlioz’s birth, at a reception given by the Conseil Général de l’Isère in Grenoble, we formally announced our intention to bequeath in our wills our entire Berlioz collection, the Hector Berlioz Website, and the largest part of our estate to the Musée Hector Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André. It was on this occasion that we donated to the Berlioz Museum two autograph letters of Berlioz dated respectively June 1832 and May 1853. The Conseil Général de l’Isère issued a press release on the day and the event was reported the following day in the Grenoble-based newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré, in Sillon 38 – Le journal du monde rural, and in L’Essor a few days later (it should be noted that the newspaper reports contain some inaccuracies).
|
From left to right: M. Antoine Troncy, Assistant de Conservation at the Musée Hector Berlioz, Madame Chantal Spillemaecker, Conservateur of the Musée Hector Berlioz, Monir Tayeb, M. Claude Bertrand, vice-président (culture et patrimoine) of the Conseil Général de l’Isère and Michel Austin (photo © Conseil Général de l’Isère). |
We had been considering the long-term future of our website for some time. Our decision arose from the increasingly close relations we had developed with the Berlioz Museum over a period of years. We first discussed the planned bequest with the Conseil Général de l’Isère and the Museum at a meeting in September 2008 and were delighted to receive their support and good will. Legal arrangements are now being put in place and we look forward to our continued collaboration with the Museum.
As we said at the reception in Grenoble, there could be no better home for our Berlioz collection, no better custodian of our internet site, nor a better recipient of the largest part of our estate, than the Museum which does so much to preserve and promote the memory of the great French composer, and which is located in the family home and in the town in which he was born.
As far as the long-term future of the Berlioz website is concerned, this guarantees its continued presence on the internet beyond our lifetime, though visitors to the site may rest assured that we intend to continue to develop and improve it for many years to come.
Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb
1 January 2010
Back to Home Page
