The Hector Berlioz Website - Berlioz-inspired works of art

Berlioz-inspired works of art : Michel Ayrton

AYRTON AND BERLIOZ

The pictures displayed here are courtesy of Michael Ayrton’s book, Berlioz, A Singular Obsession. A Personal Portrait of Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) on the Centenary of His Death (1969, London: British Broadcasting Corporation), a copy of which is in our own collection. The originals of all the images are by Michael Ayrton (1921-1975) himself.

1. Harold en Italie
2. Lélio ou le retour à la vie
3. The Idée fixe (from Symphonie fantastique)

“Harold in Italy”

Ayrton1

wash drawing – 1966

Lélio
Idée fixe

The artist’s beloved, as represented in the Idée fixe, “becomes stranger, more absurd, madder, more cruel, until finally she becomes a nightmare, a triumph of Death.” Her state of mind and that of Lélio’s elides and varies “with each musical variation on the theme as it is heard in the Fantastic Symphony” and its sequel, Lélio ou le retour à la vie (Berlioz, A Singular Obsession. page 22).