Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness 1832-1869

By David Cairns

Book Overview

What an impossible novel my life is Berlioz wrote in 1832 to his friend Albert Du Boys. To his sister Adele, I am absorbed continually by the strangeness, the romanticness of my situation. What was continually absorbing Berlioz in 1832 was in fact his passionate pursuit of the actress Harriet Smithson, who for so long had resisted him, and whom he at last marries. To begin with, the marriage was a happy one, produced an adored son Louis, and released Berlioz's extraordinary creative energies. But harriet was unable to find work. The marriage became unbalanced. Its end as tragic for them both. Oh to forget to forget he wrote after her death. What can relieve me of memory, blot out all those pages from the book and volume of my heart.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0713993863
• ISBN13: 9780713993868
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Viking Uk
• Weight: 3.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 2.3" x 6.5"