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Introduction
Sources of information
Dates of Berlioz’s visits to London
List of residential addresses
(with links to the
relevant photos and commentary)
List of public buildings
(with links to the
relevant photos and commentary)
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.
Berlioz was born at La Côte Saint-André near Grenoble on 11 December 1803, and the first seventeen years of his life were spent there. From 1820 onwards he lived and worked in Paris, but travelled widely in Europe, from Britain in the west to Russia in the east, performing his works to, and getting them known by, appreciative audiences across the continent.
Berlioz visited London five times between 1847 and 1855, during which he met some of Britain’s most renowned musicians, publishers, newspaper editors, the royal family, and was fêted in high society circles. He conducted his own works and those of other contemporary and past composers. This page and its related photographs, engravings and texts are intended to provide a visual commentary on Berlioz’s time in London.
The present page was created by us after a number of visits to London made since 2000; all the photographs, scanned engravings, and text/entries on this and the related pages are our own. All rights of reproduction of these are reserved.
The number of locations covered here represents most of the major buildings and sites in London associated with Berlioz.
In Berlioz’s time London was the largest and most prosperous capital city in Europe, and was expanding fast – on his first visit in 1847 Berlioz was struck by its vast size compared to Paris. Since Berlioz visited it in the mid-19th century the city has of course continued to change and expand. While a few streets and buildings have remained substantially as they were in Berlioz’s time, many others have changed or even disappeared altogether. In our listing of places of relevance we have sought wherever possible to indicate what has survived and what has not. Places that have survived, even if at times in a modified form, are identified in the lists below with a black asterisk (*) and where possible are illustrated with photographs.
Below you will find a listing of (a) the dates of Berlioz’s visits to London, (b) the residential addresses of Berlioz in London, set out in chronological sequence, and (c) the major public buildings associated in one way or another with the professional engagements of Berlioz in London. The last two lists serve as a concise guide to all the locations of relevance to Berlioz in London and provide links to individual pages, each devoted to a particular building or location. On those pages you will find more detailed information on the relevant buildings as well as photographs and engravings to illustrate them.
In locating the sites associated with Berlioz and attempting to reconstruct London as Berlioz knew it we have consulted a number of sources, the most significant of which are listed below.
Our starting point is A. W. Ganz’s seminal book Berlioz in London, published in 1950. Ganz belonged to a musical family of German origins; his father William (Wilhelm in German), and grandfather Adolph were both musicians. Berlioz had known Adolph and his brother Moritz since his first travels in Germany (December 1842-May 1843), and in his Memoirs he comments very favourably on the two brothers as violinist and cellist respectively. Berlioz engaged Adolph Ganz to play in his orchestra during his visits to London. William Ganz as a young boy attended with his father some of Berlioz’s concerts, and later in life as a distinguished conductor introduced the Symphonie fantastique to British audiences in the 1880s. In the third generation A. W. Ganz had therefore a first hand knowledge of Berlioz’s experiences in London through family tradition. He also made use of Berlioz’s own writings and other materials available to him at the time he wrote the book.
We have also made extensive use of Berlioz’s own writings in the original French, as listed below; all translations are by Michel Austin.
Hector Berlioz, Mémoires, 1991. Edited and annotated by Pierre Citron. Paris: Flammarion
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale, 1978. Volume III: September 1842-1850, edited by Pierre Citron. Paris: Flammarion.
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale, 1983. Volume IV: 1851-February 1855, edited by Pierre Citron, Yves Gérard and Hugh J. Macdonald. Paris: Flammarion
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale, 1989. Volume V: March 1855-August 1859, edited by Hugh J. Macdonald and François Lesure. Paris: Flammarion
Hector Berlioz, Les Soirées de l’orchestre, 1968. Edited by Léon Guichard. Paris: Gründ Centenary edition.
A. W. Ganz, 1950, Berlioz in London. London: Quality Press Ltd.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music, 2001, volume 15. Edited by Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan.
David Cairns, 1999, Berlioz volume 2: Servitude and Greatness. London: Penguin Books.
John R. Davis, 1999, The Great Exhibition. Stroud: Sutton Publishing Limited.
Pierre Citron, Calendrier Berlioz, 2000. No. 4 in the "Cahiers Berlioz" series, published by Association Nationale Hector Berlioz and Musée Hector Berlioz at La Côte Saint-André.
Dates
of Berlioz’s visits to London
First visit: 3 November 1847 – 13 July 1848
Berlioz was engaged as conductor by Jullien the director of Theatre Royal Drury
Lane
Second visit: 10 May 1851 – 28 July 1851
Berlioz
was sent by the French government as member of the international commission
examining musical instruments at the Great Exhibition.
Berlioz’s portrait on the top
left of
this page was drawn by Charles Baugniet during this visit.
Third visit: 4 March 1852 – 20 June 1852
Berlioz was engaged by Frederick Beale, the co-founder of the New Philharmonic
Society, to conduct six concerts for the Society at Exeter Hall.
Fourth visit: 14 May 1853 – 9 July 1853
Berlioz was invited by Frederick Gye, the director of Covent Garden, to produce and conduct Benvenuto Cellini
at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden.
Fifth visit: 8 June 1855 – 7 July 1855
Berlioz was engaged by Henry Wylde, the co-founder of the New Philharmonic
Society, to conduct two concerts for the Society at Exeter Hall; Berlioz left England on 7
July never to return.
An asterisk (*) before an address indicates that the place is still extant, though it may have undergone modifications since the time of Berlioz.
*76 Harley Street Berlioz lived here during the best part of his first visit in 1847-48 [later no. 27 and since rebuilt].
26 Osnaburgh Street Berlioz lived here during the last two and half months of his first visit in 1848 [since demolished and replaced by a block of flats].
*27 Queen Anne Street Berlioz lived here during his second visit in 1851 [now no. 58].
10 Old Cavendish Street, Oxford Street (and off Cavendish Square) Berlioz lived here during his third visit in 1852 [since demolished].
17 Old Cavendish Street Berlioz stayed here on his fourth visit in 1853 [since demolished].
13 Margaret Street Berlioz stayed here on his fifth and final visit in 1855 [apparently now demolished].
The following are some of the residences where Berlioz paid social visits while in London:
*8 Hinde Street, Manchester Square. The house of the violinist Prosper Sainton where Berlioz dined with Wagner in 1855.
*80 Harley Street A few doors away from Berlioz’s first residential address in London (1847-48); it was the house of Madame Duckens, a pianist; Berlioz was one of the invitees to her ‘at-homes’ on Sunday evenings [later No. 19].
2 Manchester Square Around the corner from Hanover Square Rooms; Sir Julius Benedict, a British composer, lived here; Berlioz used to visit him to talk over musical matters.
An asterisk (*) before an address indicates that the place is still extant, though it may have undergone modifications since the time of Berlioz.
Exeter Hall Berlioz conducted many concerts here during his visits to London [no longer extant].
Hanover Square Rooms Berlioz conducted many concerts here during his visits to London [no longer extant].
(See also A concert in June 1848 in Hanover Square Rooms)
*Theatre Royal Covent Garden Now the Royal Opera House; Berlioz conducted Benvenuto Cellini there on 25 June 1853, but withdrew the work after a single performance.
*Theatre Royal Drury Lane Berlioz was engaged here as conductor during his first visit in 1847-1848.
(See also A concert in February 1848 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and an article on Berlioz published in London in February 1848)
Freemason’s Tavern, Great Queen Street. Berlioz attended the annual banquet of the Society of English Musicians, presided by the Duke of Cambridge, Queen Mary’s grandfather, in February 1848.
Willis’ Rooms – Musical Union Berlioz conducted the Hungarian March there on 7 April 1848; he also attended the Musical Union’s matinées which were held here; many years later the place became an auction room.
Royal Olympic Theatre, Wych Street (now Aldwych) Berlioz saw Hamlet there in May 1848.
*St Paul’s Cathedral Berlioz attended a Charity Children annual performance here which inspired him to include a children part in the chorus of his Te Deum.
Crystal Palace, 1851 Exhibition Berlioz was on the international commission examining musical instruments at the Great Exhibition; the Exhibition closed on 15 October; a few months later the building was taken down, over a period of two years, and re-erected at Sydenham, in south-east London; it was destroyed by fire in 1936.
(See also Berlioz: Report on the Great Exhibition in London in 1851.)
*Her Majesty’s Theatre Berlioz heard there the celebrated singer Jenny Lind in 1848; he also saw a number of operas there in 1851.
*Theatre Royal Haymarket In 1851 Berlioz heard there Mendelssohn’s youthful opera Die Hochzeit des Camacho.
*Westminster Abbey In June 1851 Berlioz attended there a Purcell Commemoration, an annual event.
Caldwell’s Rooms Berlioz held various rehearsals here.
Blagrove Rooms Berlioz held rehearsals here for his fifth concert of the New Philharmonic Society’s orchestra in 1852; the concert itself took place on 28 May at Exeter Hall.
Robert Addison’s, the music publisher at 47 King Street Berlioz asked two of his musicians to meet him there to try over a passage for the antique cymbals which was to be played in one of his concerts in 1852.
Related pages on this site:
Berlioz Mémoires (in the original French)
Index of letters of Berlioz cited
The Hector Berlioz website was created by Monir Tayeb and Michel
Austin on 18 July 1997;
Berlioz in London pages created on 1 January
2002; French version created on 8 March 2002; substantial additions made
since.
© 2002-2006 (unless otherwise stated) Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb for all the photos, engravings and information on Berlioz in London pages.
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