Berlioz (Master Musicians Series)

This volume in the "Master Musicians" series of Oxford University Press is a worthy study of Berlioz' life (the first third of the book) and his music. Berlioz' father wanted him to attend medical school, and his mother disowned him when he refused to give up music. (In fact, his parents never even heard a note of his music.) To make ends meet, he worked in a chorus for a theatre, and eventually became a fairly well-known music critic, and a "specialist" conductor. MacDonald notes that "he eventually came to be thought of as a critic who composed rather than as a composer who eked a living from writing." He further notes that Berlioz "regarded writing as an accursed drudgery, a millstone which oppressed him body and soul." Nevertheless, he had no choice, since "for his work as a comoposer he made virtually no money." The story of Berlioz' fixation on the actress Harriet Smithson, and his turning this infatuation into his Symphonie Fantastique is told in detail, as well as his brief meeting with a young Brahms. Berlioz wrote several highly-regarded religious compositions (such as hsi Te Deum"), yet he was "contemptuous of traditional religion." For anyone interested in Berlioz and his music, this is an excellent book to purchase.