An edition of Berlioz: Volume Two (2000)

Berlioz: Volume Two

Servitude and Greatness

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Last edited by Bryan Tyson
October 15, 2015 | History
An edition of Berlioz: Volume Two (2000)

Berlioz: Volume Two

Servitude and Greatness

1 edition
  • 1 Want to read

"What an improbable 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 at the beginning of the second volume of David Cairns's masterly biography. 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 was 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!" The pursuit of love, and its defining place in Berlioz's life, is one of the great themes of Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness. It is only one among many brilliantly traced by the author. Cairns describes the genesis of the famous works of Berlioz's maturity -- Benvenuto Cellini, the Requiem, Romeo and Juliet, The Damnation of Faust and above all the crowning masterpiece The Trojans, neglected or mutilated for a century after its composition and which Cairns shows emerging from the classical passions of Berlioz's adolescence -- with exceptional insight and understanding. Rarely have the creative processes of a great artist been so amply revealed. But Berlioz stands in this volume not simply as a great and revolutionary composer: he was, in the opinion of Hans von Bulow, Sir Charles Halle and many others, "the finest conductor of his age", called upon all over Europe to perform above all Gluck and Beethoven as well as his own works. And it is evident, in this book perhaps for the first time, that he was also one of the finest critics and writers about music of the 19th century, in Cairns's opinion the finest until Shaw. - Jacket flap.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
907

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Berlioz: Volume Two
Berlioz: Volume Two: Servitude and Greatness, 1832-1869
October 1, 2003, University of California Press
Paperback in English - 1 edition
Cover of: Berlioz: Volume Two
Berlioz: Volume Two: Servitude and Greatness
March 6, 2000, University of California Press
Hardcover in English - 1 edition

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Harriet
Friends and enemies
The music critic malgre lui
Art and politics
A summer of composition
The visionary gleam
Malvenuto Cellini
"Speak, my orchestra"
Lost illusions
Marie
Germany at last
Ophelia drowning
The Damnation of Faust
To Russia
An exile in London
Return journey
The call of the past
Prospero's wand
Liszt
The childhood of Christ
Private passions
The Trojans
Lobbying
Wagner
Beneath the walls of Troy
Evening star
Louis
Last rites
Epilogue

Edition Notes

Published in
Berkeley, Los Angeles

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Number of pages
907
Dimensions
9.6 x 6.6 x 2.6 inches
Weight
3.8 pounds

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7710818M
ISBN 10
0520222008
ISBN 13
9780520222007
Library Thing
1901147
Goodreads
1061207

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Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
October 15, 2015 Edited by Bryan Tyson Edited without comment.
August 6, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 24, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs.
April 16, 2010 Edited by bgimpertBot Added goodreads ID.
April 29, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record