Berlioz in Paris
Salle Herz
The Salle des Concerts Herz, or Salle Herz for short, was located on the site of the present no. 48, rue de la Victoire. It was built in 1842 on commission from Henri et Jacques Herz. Henri Herz was a German pianist, composer and teacher. In 1851 he founded a piano factory; its instruments merited comparison with those of Érard and Pleyel and won him the first prize at the Paris exhibition of 1855. Together with his brother Jacques he founded the École spéciale de piano in Paris.
The hall was used for concerts and other public performances. Offenbach, for instance, performed some of his works there and also appeared as a cellist. The hall was still used in 1873, but has since been demolished.
Berlioz conducted the première of two of his compositions at the Salle Herz – the overture Le Carnaval romain on 3 February 1844 and L’Enfance du Christ on 10 December 1854.
The photographs reproduced on this page were taken by Michel Austin. © Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin.
All rights of reproduction reserved.
The site of Salle Herz in rue de la Victoire
No. 48 is the second building on the right.
No. 48 is the second building on the left.
Billboard of the première of
L’Enfance du Christ at the Salle Herz
We are most grateful to our friend Gene Halaburt for sending us an electronic copy of a facsimile of the billboard of the 1854 concert, which is reproduced above.
© 2000-2012 (unless otherwise stated) Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin for all the pictures and information on this page.
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.
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