Peter Bloom (1)

This shortish biography focuses on showing Berlioz as a member of the society of his time, adjusting the image of older biographies that supposed him an outsider, rejected by authority and establishment. Berlioz was partly himself to blame for this, having crafted his Mémoires like one would a novel, bringing to the stage a true Romantic Hero. Bloom, who has unearthed many previously unknown archival pieces related to Berlioz and his daily life, thus shows us a new, somewhat unexpected Berlioz. The composer was respected by circles at court, had many friends and supporters, and wasn't as unhappy as he led us to believe. Even as the Romantic image is broken down, the new image erected is that of a wise, altogether sympathetic person.… (plus d'informations)

Berlioz was arguably the greatest French composer of the nineteenth century. Although the author of the Symphonie fantastique was possessed of a fertile imagination and sometimes obsessed by love, the image of Berlioz as a misunderstood and mistreated genius obscures both the solidity of his work as a musical architect and the reality of his position as one sometimes favored by those in power. This Life of Berlioz situates the celebrated French musician in the vibrant and highly politicized musical culture in which he lived and worked as composer, conductor, concert manager, and writer. Bloom's biography--based on special familiarity with archival sources and the composer's only recently made available writings--projects a noncaricatural and enormously talented Berlioz occupied with the practical details of polishing scores and articles, arranging concerts and tours, making connections with those in power, and making an independent career in the age of incipient free enterprise.… (plus d'informations)