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Berlioz: Musical and Literary Works
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Berlioz's third century

“A great genius can be given no more worthy testimonial 
to his honour than an accurate edition of his complete works.”
Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, 1875

Introduction

    This page provides bibliographical information on Berlioz’s musical and literary works, concentrating on the most recent and up-to-date editions available, the publication of which has been prompted by the centenary celebrations of 1969 and the bicentenary celebrations of 2003. In addition, a listing of the volumes of the older Breitkopf and Härtel edition of the musical works (1900-1907) has been provided for ease of reference. For an extensive list of books written on Berlioz and his music from his time to the present day see Berlioz Bibliography (and its French version). For a selection of major recordings of Berlioz’s musical works see Berlioz Discography (and its French version).

    For a full listing of all Berlioz’s musical works see Berlioz: A Listing of his Musical Works, also available in French.

Contents of this page:

I    Musical Works:
        The Breitkopf and Härtel edition
        The New Berlioz Edition:
           Listing by volumes
           Listing by date of publication of individual volumes

II  Literary Works

III Published Correspondence

I. Musical Works

The Breitkopf and Härtel edition

    Published by Breitkopf and Härtel in Leipzig between 1900 and 1907, and edited by Charles Malherbe and Felix Weingartner, this was the first attempt at a complete edition of Berlioz’s works – a project that Berlioz had toyed with in his lifetime, but which did not come to fruition. But the edition was incomplete – it lacked in particular the two major operas Benvenuto Cellini and Les Troyens, neither of which had been published in full score in Berlioz’s lifetime. Furthermore, its editorial practices were not in line with the best standards of musicological scholarship and took unacceptable liberties with Berlioz’s text.

Volume 1: Symphonie Fantastique
                
Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale

Volume 2: Harold en Italie

Volume 3: Roméo et Juliette

Volume 4: Overtures: Les Francs-Juges, Waverley, Le Roi Lear, Rob Roy

Volume 5: Overtures: Benvenuto Cellini, Le Carnaval Romain, Le Corsaire

Volume 6: Rêverie et Caprice, Marche Troyenne, Marche Funèbre pour la dernière scène d’Hamlet, Fugue à trois sujets (1829), 3 Morceaux pour l’orgue mélodium d’Alexandre (Sérénade agreste à la madone, Toccata, Hymne pour l’élévation)

Volume 7: Resurrexit, Quartetto e coro dei maggi, Grande messe des morts (Requiem), Veni creator, Tantum ergo

Volume 8: Te Deum

Volume 9: L’Enfance du Christ

Volume 10: La Révolution Grecque, Huit Scènes de Faust

Volumes 11 & 12: La Damnation de Faust

Volume 13: Lélio ou Le Retour à la vie, Le Cinq Mai, L’Impériale

Volume 14: Choral and vocal works with orchestra: Chant sacré, Méditation religieuse, Sara la baigneuse, Hymne à la France, Hélène, Chant des chemins de fer, La Menace des Francs, La Mort d’Ophélie

Volume 15: Choral and vocal works with orchestra: Herminie, Cléopâtre, La Belle voyageuse, La Captive, Le Jeune pâtre breton, Les Nuits d’été, Le Chasseur danois, Zaïde

Volume 16: Choral and vocal works with piano: Ballet des ombres, Chant guerrier, Chanson à boire, Chant sacré, Le Chant des Bretons, La Menace des Francs, La Mort d’Ophélie, Prière du matin, Hymne pour la consécration du nouveau tabernacle, Le Temple universel, Pleure pauvre Colette, Canon libre à la quinte, Amitié reprends ton empire, Le Montagnard exilé, Le Trébuchet

Volume 17: Choral and vocal works with piano: Le Dépit de la bergère, Le Maure jaloux, Toi qui l’aimas verse des pleurs, Irlande (9 mélodies), Le Pêcheur, La Captive (3 versions), Le Jeune pâtre breton (with solo horn), Les Champs, Je crois en vous, Le Chant des Bretons, Les Nuits d’été, La belle Isabeau, Le Chasseur danois, Zaïde, Nessun maggior piacere, La Mort d’Ophélie, Le Matin, Petit oiseau

Volume 18: Arrangements: Hymne des Marseillais (Rouget de Lisle), Invitation à louer Dieu (Couperin), Invitation à la valse (Weber), Adoremus & Pater noster (Bortniansky), Plaisir d’amour (Martini), Erlkönig (Schubert)

Volumes 19 & 20: Béatrice et Bénédict

The New Berlioz Edition

    The New Berlioz Edition of Berlioz’s musical works (NBE), published by Bärenreiter (Kassel, Basel, London, New York, and Prague) and now complete, is intended to supersede the older and less accurate edition of Charles Malherbe and Felix Weingartner, published in Leipzig by Breitkopf and Härtel (18 volumes in 20, 1900-1907). See above for the contents of the Breitkopf and Härtel edition. See also elsewhere on this site Scores not included in the New Berlioz Edition.

    This section is organised under two headings (a) Listing by volume numbers and their contents (b) Listing by date of publication of individual volumes.

(a) The NBE: listing by volumes

1a-d Benvenuto Cellini, edited by Hugh Macdonald (1994, 1996, 2005 [in practice 2006]). BA 5441. Volume 1a, li + 338 pages (Act Ia Paris version/Act I Weimar version); Volume 1b, pages 339-727 (Act Ib Paris version/Act II Weimar version); Volume 1c, pages 728-1201 (Act II Paris version/Act III Weimar version); Volume 1d, pages 1202-1320. ISMN M-006-49503-0 (Critical notes, Facsimiles, Appendices, Errata in Volumes 1a-c, List of Subscribers to the New Berlioz Edition).

2a-c Les Troyens, edited by Hugh Macdonald (1969, 1970). BA 5442. Volume 2a, pages 1-294 (Acts I & II); Volume 2b, pages 295-751 (Acts III-V); Volume 2c, pages 752-947 (Supplement)

3 Béatrice et Bénédict, edited by Hugh Macdonald (1980). BA 5443. xix + 312 pages

4 Incomplete operas, edited by Ric Graebner and Paul Banks (2002 [in practice 2003]). BA 5444. xxvi + 345 pages. ISMN M-006-47144-7

Les Francs-Juges
La Nonne Sanglante

5 Huit Scènes de Faust, edited by Julian Rushton (1970). BA 5445. xvi + 107 pages

6 Prix de Rome Works, edited by David Gilbert (1998). BA 5446. xxxiii + 242 pages. ISMN M-006-49501-6

Fugue (1826)
La Mort d’Orphée
Herminie
Fugue à trois sujets
(1829)
Cléopâtre
Sardanapale

7 Lélio ou Le Retour à la vie, edited by Peter Bloom (1992). BA 5447. xxxix + 242 pages

8a-b La Damnation de Faust, edited by Julian Rushton (1979, 1986). BA 5448. Volume 8a, pages 1-451; Volume 8b, pages 452-556 (Supplement)

9 Grande Messe des morts, edited by Jürgen Kindermann (1978). BA 5449. xvii + 177 pages

10 Te Deum, edited by Denis McCaldin (1973). BA 5450. xxi + 195 pages

11 L’Enfance du Christ, edited by David Lloyd-Jones (1998). BA 5451. xxii + 228 pages. ISMN M-006-49502-3

12a Choral Works with Orchestra, I, edited by Julian Rushton (1991). BA 5452/I. xxix + 409 pages

Resurrexit
Scène héroïque
Chant sacré
Hélène
Quartetto e coro dei maggi
Sara la baigneuse
Le Cinq Mai

12b Choral Works with Orchestra, II, edited by David Charlton (1993). BA 5452/II. xxxv + 234 pages

Chant des chemins de fer
Tristia: trois chœurs avec orchestre
  
     1 Méditation religieuse
       
2 La Mort d’Ophélie
       
3 Marche Funèbre pour la dernière scène d’Hamlet
Vox populi: Deux grands chœurs
       
1 La Menace des Francs
       
2 Hymne à la France
L’Impériale

13 Songs for Solo Voice and Orchestra, edited by Ian Kemp (1975). BA 5453. xxxix + 137 pages

La Belle Voyageuse
La Captive
Le Jeune Pâtre Breton
Les Nuits d’été
(1. Villanelle 2. Le Spectre de la rose 3. Sur les lagunes
   
4. Absence 5. Au cimetière 6. L’Île inconnue)
Le Chasseur danois
Zaïde
Aubade

14 Choral Works with Keyboard, edited by Ian Rumbold (1996). BA 5454. xxvi + 110 pages. ISMN M-006-47157-7

Le Ballet des ombres
Chant guerrier
Chanson à boire
Chant sacré
, version I
Chant sacré, version II
Le Chant des Bretons, version I
Le Chant des Bretons, version II
L’Apothéose
Prière du matin
Hymne pour la consécration du nouveau tabernacle
Le Temple universel
, version I
Le Temple universel, version II
Veni creator
Tantum ergo

15 Songs with Piano, edited by Ian Rumbold (2005). BA 5455. xliv + 303 pages. ISMN  M-006-47158-4

Le Dépit de la bergère
Le Maure jaloux
Amitié, reprends ton empire
Pleure, pauvre Colette
Canon libre à la quinte
Le Montagnard exilé
Toi qui l’aimas, verse des pleurs
Le Roi de Thulé
Le Coucher du soleil
Hélène
La Belle Voyageuse
L’Origine de la harpe
Adieu Bessy
Élégie
Le Pêcheur
Scène de brigands
Chant de bonheur
La Captive
Le Jeune Pâtre breton
Les Champs
Sara la baigneuse
Je crois en vous
Le Chant des Bretons
Chansonette
Le Lever pour la chasse
Premiers transports
Les Nuits d’été
(1. Villanelle 2. Le Spectre de la rose 3. Sur les lagunes
    
4. Absence 5. Au cimetière 6. L’Île inconnue)
La Mort d’Ophélie
La Belle Isabeau
Le Chasseur danois
Zaïde
Le Trébuchet
Nessun maggior piacere
Le Matin
Petit oiseau

16 Symphonie fantastique, edited by Nicholas Temperley (1972). BA 5456. xxxv + 221 pages

17 Harold en Italie, edited by Paul Banks (2001 [in practice 2002]). BA 5457. xix + 241 pages. ISMN M-006-49504-7
     (Piano Reduction, by Hugh Macdonald, 2001. Kassel: Bärenreiter. Paperback edition. ISMN: M-006-50730-6.) 

18 Roméo et Juliette, edited by D. Kern Holoman (1990). BA 5458. xxv + 439 pages

19 Grande Symphonie funèbre et triomphale, edited by Hugh Macdonald (1967). BA 5459. xxii + 110 pages

20 Overtures, edited by Diana Bickley (2000 [in practice 2001]). BA 5460. xxix + 356 pages. ISMN M-006-49505-4

Grande Ouverture de Waverley
Grande Ouverture du Roi Lear
Intrata di Rob-Roy MacGregor
Le Carnaval romain
Ouverture du Corsaire

21 Miscellaneous Works and Index, edited by Hugh Macdonald (2005 [in practice 2006]). BA 5461. xxvi + 183 pages. ISMN M-006-49509-2

Miscellaneous compositions:

Rêverie et caprice (for violin and orchestra; for violin and piano)
Sérénade agreste à la madone
Toccata
Hymne pour l’élévation
Marche troyenne
Restons ici

Fragments:

Beverley, ou le joueur
Dans l’alcôve sombre
Partirò
Eight sketches
Erigone
Au bord d’une rivière

Albumleaves

Arrangements with piano:

Méditation religieuse
Le cinq mai
La mort d’Oph
élie
Hymne à la France
Chant des chemins de fer
La menace des Francs

Errata for volumes 1-23

Index of works

22a Arrangements of Works by Glück, edited by Joël-Marie Fauquet (2005). BA 5462/I. xxvi + 213 pages. ISMN M-006-49507-8

Orphée
Alceste

22b Arrangements of Works by Other Composers, edited by Ian Rumbold (2004). BA 5462/II. xxxiii + 408 pages. ISMN M-006-49506-1

Fleuve du Tage (Pollet)
Recueil de romances avec accompagnement de guitare
Nocturne à deux voix
(Anonymous)
Hymne des Marseillais, Versions I-II (Rouget de Lisle)
Chant du neuf Thermidor (Rouget de Lisle)
Sur les Alpes, quel délice! (Huber)
Recitatives for Le Freischütz (Weber)
L’Invitation à la valse (Weber)
Marche marocaine (Meyer)
Plaisir d’amour (Martini)
Le Roi des aulnes (Schubert)
Invitation à louer dieu (Couperin)

23 Messe solennelle, edited by Hugh Macdonald (1994). BA 5463. xxii + 316 pages

24 Grand Traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes, edited by Peter Bloom (December 2003). BVK 1586. lvi + 564 pages. ISBN 3-7618-1586-7.

25 D. Kern Holoman, Catalogue of the Works of Hector Berlioz (1987). xlv + 527 pages. ISBN 3-7618-0449-0

26 The Portraits of Hector Berlioz, edited by Gunther Braam in collaboration with Richard Macnutt and John Warrack (December 2003).
xxvii + 401 + 205 pages. ISBN: 3-7618-1677-4

(b) The NBE: listing by date of publication

1967 vol. 19 (Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale)

1969 vol. 2a & b (Les Troyens)

1970 vol. 2c (Les Troyens)

         vol. 5 (Huit Scènes de Faust)

1972 vol. 16 (Symphonie Fantastique)

1973 vol. 10 (Te Deum)

1975 vol. 13 (Songs for solo voice and orchestra)

1978 vol. 9 (Grande Messe des morts)

1979 vol. 8a (La Damnation de Faust)

1980 vol. 3 (Béatrice et Bénédict)

1986 vol. 8b (La Damnation de Faust)

1987 vol. 25 (Catalogue of the Works of Hector Berlioz)

1990 vol. 18 (Roméo et Juliette)

1991 vol. 12a (Choral Works with orchestra, I)

1992 vol. 7 (Lélio ou Le Retour à la vie)

1993 vol. 12b (Choral Works with orchestra, II)

1994 vol. 1a & b (Benvenuto Cellini)

         vol. 23 (Messe solennelle)

1996 vol. 14 (Choral Works with Keyboard)

         vol. 1c (Benvenuto Cellini)

1998 vol. 6 (Prix de Rome Works)

         vol. 11 (L’Enfance du Christ)

2001 vol. 20 (Overtures) [the volume bears the date 2000]

2002 vol. 17 (Harold en Italie) [the volume bears the date 2001]
                  (Piano Reduction, by Hugh Macdonald, 2001. Kassel: Bärenreiter. Paperback edition. ISMN: M-006-50730-6.)

2003 vol. 4 (Incomplete operas) [the volume bears the date 2002]

2003 vol. 24 (Grand Traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration)

2003 vol. 26 (The Portraits of Hector Berlioz)

2004 vol. 22b (Arrangements of Works by Other Composers)

2005 vol. 15 (Songs with Piano)

2005 vol. 22a (Arrangements of Glück)

2006 vol. 1d (Benvenuto Cellini, Critical Notes; List of Subscribers to the New Berlioz Edition) [the volume bears the date 2005]

2006 vol. 21 (Miscellaneous Works and Index) [the volume bears the date 2005]

II. Literary Works

(in chronological order of first editions)

 Critique Musicale

    Berlioz wrote his very first music critique in 1823 at the age of 20, in the form of a letter to the journal Le Corsaire. You will find the original French and our English translation of this article in the Berlioz Special Bicentenary section. 

    Berlioz’s complete writings as a music critic are being collected and edited under the auspices of l’Association Nationale Hector Berlioz, under the title Hector Berlioz: Critique Musicale 1823-1863. The first six volumes were published by Buchet/Chastel (Paris). Volumes 7 to 10 are published by Société française de musicologie. The complete edition comprises ten volumes.

Volume 1: 1823-1834, ed. by H. Robert Cohen and Yves Gérard (1996); ISBN: 2-283-01722-X. xxv + 517 pages

Volume 2: 1835-1836, ed. by Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï and Anne Bongrain (1998); ISBN: 2-283-01723-8. xxi + 678 pages

Volume 3: 1837-1838, ed. by Anne Bongrain and Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï (2001); ISBN: 2-283-01724-6. xviii + 620 pages

Volume 4: 1839-1841, ed. by Anne Bongrain and Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï (2003); ISBN: 2-283-01924-9. xix + 693 pages

Volume 5: 1842-1844, ed. by Anne Bongrain and Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï  (2004); ISBN: 2-283-02030-1. xv + 691 pages

Volume 6: 1845-1848, ed. by Anne Bongrain and Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï  (2008); ISBN: 978-2-283-02331-0. xix + 542 pages 

Volume 7: 1849-1851, ed. by Anne Bongrain and Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï  (2014);  ISBN: 978-2853572453. xix + 711 pages

Volume 8: 1852-1855, ed. by Anne Bongrain and Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï  (2016); ISBN: 978-2-85357-254-5. xv + 646 pages

Volume 9: 1856-1859, ed. by Anne Bongrain and Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï  (2018); ISBN: 978-2-85357-262-0. xviii + 683 pages.

Volume 10: 1860-1863, ed. by Anne Bongrain and Marie-Hélène Coudroy-Saghaï  (2020); ISBN: 978-2-85357-268-2. xviii + 652 pages.

Grand Traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration

First edition published in 1843-44, revised edition in 1855 when L’Art du chef d’orchestre was added to it.

Hugh Macdonald, Berlioz’s Orchestration Treatise. A Translation and Commentary, Cambridge University Press, 2002, xxxix + 388 pages.
ISBN 0-521-23953-2.

    See also above, NBE volume 24

Extracts from the Traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration are available on this site, in the original French and in an English translation.

Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie

    The full title of this work is: Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie. Études sur Beethoven, Gluck et Weber. Mélanges et nouvelles. It was published in Paris by Jules Labitte in August 1844, and the work was deliberately divided by Berlioz in two contrasted volumes, the first entitled Voyage musical en Allemagne, and the second Voyage musical en Italie, though the trip to Germany was later in date (1842-43) than that to Italy (1831-32). The text of the work is not reproduced on this site, as it was almost entirely taken over in Berlioz’s later works, the Soirées de l’orchestre (1852), À Travers chants (1862), and the Mémoires (1870). A separate page provides an introduction to the work (in English), excerpts from the composers’correspondence (in French), and a detailed table of contents, which also lists the sources Berlioz used in each chapter (articles he had published during the previous decade), and provides links to the sections or chapters of his later works in which the material of the Voyage musical was reused.

Les Soirées de l’Orchestre

First published in 1852, 2nd edition 1854.

Centenary edition under the auspices of l’Association Nationale Hector Berlioz, edited by Léon Guichard, preface by Henry Barraud. Gründ, Paris, 1968; paperback 1998. ISBN 2-7000-2102-9.

Evenings with the Orchestra, translated with an introduction and notes by Jacques Barzun, at the request of the Berlioz Society, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1956; reprinted with a new foreword by Peter Bloom, in Chicago and London by University of Chicago Press, 1999. ISBN 0-226-04374-6.

Avonden met het orkest, Dutch translation by Pepijn van Doesburg, Amsterdam, Uitgeverij Atlas, 2006. ISBN: 90-450-1371-1.

Serate d’orchestra, Italian translation by Maurizio Biondi, Torino, EDT, 2006. ISBN 88-7063-778-6.

Las tertulias de la orquesta, translated by Enrique García Revilla, Madrid, Akal Música, 2015, ISBN 978-84-460-4159-7.

The full French text of Les Soirées de l’Orchestre is available on this site.

See also on this site A Bibliography of Les Soirées de l’Orchestre and Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (text in French with introduction in English).

Les Grotesques de la Musique

First published in 1859. See the title page of the first edition (courtesy of Mr Gene Halaburt).

Centenary edition under the auspices of l’Association Nationale Hector Berlioz, edited by Léon Guichard, preface by Henry Sauguet. Gründ, Paris, 1969; paperback 1998.
ISBN 2-7000-2103-7.

The Musical Madhouse: An English Translation of Berlioz’s “Les Grotesques de la Musique”, edited by Alastair Bruce, Rochester University Press, 2003.
ISBN 1-58046-132-8. This is the first complete English translation of Berlioz’s second collection of musical articles.

HECTOR BERLIOZ, I grotteschi della musica, translated by Alessandro Taverna, Zecchini Editore, 2004. This is the first Italian translation of the book.

Les Grotesques de la musique, Preface by Gérard Condé, Lyon, Symétrie, 2011. ISBN  978-2-914373-77-7.
Published in collaboration with the Palazzetto Brue Zane, Centre de musique romantique française.

The full French text of Les Grotesques de la Musique is available on this site.

See also on this site A Bibliography of Les Grotesques de la Musique and Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (text in French with introduction in English).

À Travers Chants

First published in 1862. See the title page of the first edition.

Centenary edition under the auspices of l’Association Nationale Hector Berlioz, edited by Léon Guichard, preface by Jacques Chailley. Gründ, Paris, 1969.

The Art of Music and Other Essays (À Travers Chants), translated and edited by Elizabeth Csicsery-Rónay, foreword by Jacques Barzun, Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-253-31164-0

The full French text of À Travers Chants is available on this site.

See also on this site A Bibliography of À Travers Chants and Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (text in French with introduction in Enlish).

Mémoires

Privately printed in 1865 in a limited edition of 50 copies.

Published posthumously in 1870. See the title page of the first edition (courtesy of Mr Gene Halaburt).

Hector Berlioz Mémoires, ed. by Pierre Citron, Paris, Flammarion, 1991. ISBN 2-08-066518-9; new pocket size edition (Paris, Flammarion, 2000).

The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz, translated and edited by David Cairns, London, Victor Gollancz, 1969; St Albans, Panther Books, 1970; Cardinal paperback edition, published in 1990 by Sphere Books Ltd; new edition in 2002 by Alfred A. Knopf (in US) and Everyman Library (in UK).

Hector Berlioz: Memoiren, new German translation by Dagmar Kreher, edited with commentary by Frank Heidlberger. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2007.
ISBN 978-3-7618-1825-1.

Hector Berlioz: Memoiren, based on Hans Scholz’s German translation, edited with commentary by Gunther Braam. Kassel: Hainholz, 2007. ISBN 978-3-932622-90-8.

Hector Berlioz: Mémoires, edition prepared by Michel Austin, accompanied by “L’enfant, Prospero et l’éternité” by Christian Wasselin, “À propos de la véracité des Mémoires”, by Pierre-René Serna [article reproduced in Café Berlioz, pp. 29-36] and “À propos d’une édition des Mémoires d’Hector Berlioz”, by Peter Bloom. Editions du Sandre, 2010. ISBN 978-2-35821-043-0
Note: the text is based on the first public edition (1870), without any annotation.

Hector Berlioz: Mémoires, edited by Guy Sacre, who has also provided the commentaries, with an introduction by Alban Ramaut. Symétrie, 2010. ISBN 978-2-914373-71-5.
Published in collaboration with Palazzetto Brue Zane, Centre de musique romantique française.
Note: the text is based on the second edition (1878).

Mémoires d’Hector Berlioz de 1803 à 1865, edited by Peter Bloom, Paris, Vrin 2019 (909 pages). ISBN 978-2-7116-2865-0

The full French text of the Mémoires is available on this site.

See also on this site A Bibliography of the Mémoires, Excerpts from the composer’s correspondence (in French), and Composition and history.

III. Published Correspondence

    The first known letter of Berlioz was written to a childhood friend some time between 1816 and 1819 before he left for Paris to read medicine and the correspondence continues almost to the end of Berlioz’s life. Nearly 4000 letters have been preserved. See on this site images of four autograph letters, dated 16 June 1832, ca. 13 May 1853, 13 May 1854, and 12 May 1865.

Early editions:

Correspondance inédite de Berlioz, Daniel Bernard (Paris, Calmann Lévy, 1879) 
Hector Berlioz: Selections from his Letters and Writings, selection and translation by William Apthorp (New York, 1879; reprinted by Longwood Press, 1976)
Berlioz, Hector, Lettres intimes, with preface by Charles Gounod (Paris, Calmann Lévy, 1882)
Briefe von Hector Berlioz an die Fürstin Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, La Mara (Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1903)
Les Années romantiques 1819-1842, Julien Tiersot (Paris, Calmann-Lévy, [1904])
Le Musicien errant 1842-1852, Julien Tiersot (Paris, Calmann-Lévy, [1919])
Au Milieu du chemin 1852-1855, Julien Tiersot (Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1930)
New Letters of Berlioz 1830-1868, edited by Jacques Barzun (New York, Columbia University Press, 1954)
Hector Berlioz: A Selection from his Letters, edited and translated by Humphrey Searle (London, Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1966)

    The first eight volumes of the complete edition of Berlioz’s correspondence, under the general editorship of Pierre Citron, were published by Flammarion, Paris; volume VIII includes supplements and corrections to the earlier volumes. The volume published in May 2016 and entitled Nouvelles lettres de Berlioz etc. is by a different publisher (see below)

Please note: the full title of the first eight volumes of Correspondance Générale is frequently abbreviated on this site as CG.

Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale I: 1803- May 1832 [nos. 1-273], ed. by Pierre Citron (1972). 595 pages 
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale II: June 1832-September 1842 [nos. 274-775], ed. by Frédéric Robert (1975). 797 pages
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale III: September 1842-1850 [nos. 776-1367], ed. by Pierre Citron (1978). 835 pages
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale IV: 1851-February 1855 [nos. 1368-1904], ed. by Pierre Citron, Yves Gérard and Hugh J. Macdonald (1983). 791 pages
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale V: March 1855-August 1859 [nos. 1905-2395], ed. by Hugh J. Macdonald and François Lesure (1989). 769 pages. ISBN 2-08-061015
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale VI: September 1859-1863 [nos. 2396-2816], ed. by Hugh J. Macdonald and François Lesure (1995). 591 pages. ISBN 2-08-066771-8
Hector Berlioz, Correspondance Générale VII: 1864-1869 [nos. 2817-3380], ed. by Hugh J. Macdonald (2001). 500 pages. ISBN 2-08-068102-8
Hector Berlioz: Correspondance Générale VIII: Suppléments, ed. by Hugh J. Macdonald (2003). 856 pages. ISBN 2-08-068272-5 
[as well as newly discovered letters this volume contains fuller or updated texts of a number of letters only partially published in earlier volumes]

Nouvelles lettres de Berlioz, de sa famille, de ses contemporains, ed. Peter Bloom, Joël-Marie Fauquet, Hugh J. Macdonald and Cécile Reynaud, Actes Sud/Palazzetto Bru Zane, May 2016. 792 pages. ISBN 978-2-330-06255-2.

Note: this volume will be referred to on this site as NL and not as CG, unlike the first 8 volumes of Berlioz’s correspondence that are listed above. There are two reasons for this.
     First, whereas the first 8 volumes all have the title Correspondance générale on the cover and the title page, the words Correspondance générale do not appear on the cover of the new volume, which calls itself only Nouvelles lettres de Berlioz, de sa famille, de ses contemporains; the words Correspondance générale only appear as a subtitle in small characters on the full title page inside.
     Second, NL diverges from the practice followed in all the earlier volumes of CG in one crucial respect. In CG numbers were reserved for letters that were either written by Berlioz (these were reproduced in normal font), or were addressed to him (these were reproduced in italics). Citations of other letters which mentioned Berlioz (such as letters exchanged between members of his family) were reserved for footnotes and were not given numbers. The new volume bases itself on the numbering system of CG, but interprets it in a radically different way. A large number of letters, or excerpts from them, that are neither by Berlioz nor addressed to him, are now included in the numbered sequence and printed in the main body of the text; hence the proliferation of composite numbers with the suffixes bis, ter, quater etc. At the same time the typographical distinction followed by CG between letters written by Berlioz and those addressed to him has been removed.

Other editions:

Selected Letters of Berlioz, edited by Hugh Macdonald, translated by Roger Nichols (London and Boston, Faber and Faber, 1995)
Lettres à la Princesse, edited by Christian Wasselin, Paris (L’Herne, 2003)

See also Index of letters of Berlioz cited elsewhere on this site.

Related pages on this site:

Berlioz: A Listing of his Musical Works, also available in French  
Berlioz Biography
, also available in French  
Berlioz Bibliography, also available in French
Berlioz Discography, also available in French

The Hector Berlioz Website was created by Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb on 18 July 1997;
Berlioz: Musical and Literary Works created on 15 September 2001; substantial additions made since.

© Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin. All rights of reproduction reserved.

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