Great Composers: Hector Berlioz

A look at a archetypal Romantic.
This was a viewer request from KZbinr David Teitelbaum. See the current request queue at lentovivace.com/requestqueue.html.
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Classical Nerd is a weekly video series covering music history, theoretical concepts, and techniques, hosted by composer, pianist, and music history aficionado Thomas Little.
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Music:
- Hector Berlioz: Rêveries - Passions and Un Bal from Symphonie Fantastique, performed by the DuPage Symphony Orchestra conducted by Barbara Schubert and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/ya2bnqa5
- Thomas Little: Dance! #2 in E minor, Op. 1 No. 2, performed by Rachel Fellows, Michael King, and Bruce Tippette
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Contact Information:
Questions and comments can be directed to:
nerdofclassical [at] gmail.com
Tumblr:
classical-nerd.tumblr.com
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All images and audio in this video are for educational purposes only and are not intended as copyright infringement. If you have a copyright concern, please contact me using the above information.

[@erzsblasfantaven3334]

Let's not forget that time when as a teen he grew his hair out and dressed as a girl to prank the people in his town I love him: great orchestration style and a biography worth a movie

[@sugetoosty1685]

I wish they would do a movie on him- would teach the kids that historical figures were cool and fun!

[@alexandresobreiramartins9461]

"Watch her fall asleep...!!! Dude!!!" I love those moments. They make your videos far more enjoyable than most (if not all), because you manage to be at once scholarly and fun to watch, never snobbish. I don't mean I condone lowering the bar for lazy people but that's something you never do. I just think some humor is always important.

[@classicalmusic3334]

Berlioz is my number 1 favourite composer. Last year I went to a performance of the Requiem, it was an unforgettable experience!

[@dinosaurcj]

Which piece in that is your favorite? I haven't listened to all of them yet (I have about 3 more,) but my personal favorite is the Dies Irae.

[@classicalmusic3334]

@@dinosaurcj My favourite is the Tuba mirum (which is in the same movement as Dies irae)

[@Mackeson3]

@@classicalmusic3334 "This Offertorium surpasses everything " so said Robert Schumann when he heard it for the very first time.

[@sugetoosty1685]

My daughter is doing a report on him and your video was awesome, and interesting!

[@alexandresobreiramartins9461]

I wish I had to do reports on Berlioz when I was a kid at school... I hope your daughter enjoyed it.

[@sugetoosty1685]

She did! :) Thank you!

[@laurenlofton9039]

Berlioz: Big Orchestra...NOW Mahler: Me too

[@lorijones9579]

I sang in a performance of the Requiem when I was 18, and it's still my favorite opus of all time decades later.

[@carlanderton1811]

Excellent bio, Classical Nerd! I have always had an affinity for Berlioz and his odd, unique style. Thank you for an insightful portrait of him.

[@samovarmaker9673]

Berlioz: "I want to write *large* music" Scriabin: "Hold my mysterium"

[@classicalmusic3334]

Brian: "Hold my Gothic"

[@hamishmadden9314]

Sorabji: "Hold my Jami"

[@classicalmusic3334]

Cuclin: "Hold my 12th symphony"

[@timosso]

I.. am.. going to subscribe right now...

[@DJKLProductions]

I once watched his opera "La Damnation de Faust" live. It was incredible!

[@janburris2773]

Interesting as always. Thank you, Thomas.

[@blindazabat9527]

You did very well with your pronunciation of "Les Troyens" ;)

[@Mackeson3]

I love Berlioz , The remark about him being friends ( Yet polar opposites) with Mendelssohn is illustrated by a remark the latter made about Berlioz's scores , something on the lines of when you look through a Berlioz score you feel as if you need to wash your hands afterwards because ( to him) they were so messy.

[@reynard61]

Berlioz: Go *BIG* or go home!

[@samplumbmusic270]

I’m working on a tenor aria from “Les Troyens” and this video was entertaining and very useful for learning more about the composer. Thanks for your presentation!

[@logancampbell7924]

Love this video series they are very well informed. For the next one you should do a video on Richard Strauss.

[@ClassicalNerd]

You're the second person to request Strauss, and it's been reflected in the request pool over at lentovivace.com/requestqueue.html

[@evawymer1983]

Love Symphonie Fantastique!

[@lethaldream50]

i was just searching yt for a video about Berlioz and i was surprised at how little videos there were explaining his life. maybe there are some other ones but this was the only top hit that wasn't just a musical piece itself (i think?) so thank you!

[@georgealderson4424]

I am always amazed at how much you manage to pack into your talks sir and that is allowing for the infernal advertisements on KZbin. Anyway thank you for this piece about HB. I was brought here as someone was asking if anyone knew the name of a piece. I happened to know it (it's the good bit from Les Francs Juges!) The person mentioned that HB was generally not his favourite but you can not like everyone I suppose! Blessings and peace

[@jackking2225]

My life changed when I finally went for KZbin Premium - you can download tons of videos, recordings and concerts - although strangely when a video is taken down my downloaded copy becomes unavailable

[@davidmayhew8083]

Just listen to all of Colin Davis' acclaimed Berlioz cycle which included Les Troyen. A great recording like all of them. I think his style is inimitable. Like no one else. A great orchestrator. Non of his works need such large forces to be effective. The Requiem is performed all the time throughout the world.

[@wolfgangresch1650]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🤣🤣🤣What a character!! Thank you Maestro 👍

[@geoycs]

Nice job!

[@sebastianzaczek]

Informative, high quality, always keeping the viewer interested... what should i say more, great as always :) I heard Iannis Xenakis is in the request queue already...? Also, although I don't really enjoy his music, could you do a video about Brian Ferneyhough somewhen in the future? I guess many people (including me) would like to know more about why his music is... well... the way it is...

[@ClassicalNerd]

I'm up for putting a video on New Complexity in the request pool, but my policy is not to do _Great Composers_ episodes on living composers since their body of work is by definition still incomplete, so it's harder to put them in the proper historical context.

[@sebastianzaczek]

Classical Nerd aaand this time you tought me that Brian Ferneyhough is still alive, I completely forgot about that :S But a Video about New Complexity would be quite interesting too...

[@ClassicalNerd]

An "Introduction to New Complexity" video has been added to the request pool.

[@sebastianzaczek]

:D

[@aayyiss]

one of his solo works does survive , it is called rustic serenade to the virgin and it's for harmonium

[@alexandresobreiramartins9461]

Playing the taking the salt game while reading Berlioz's Memoirs... ends up severely dehydrated.

[@zacharydetrick7428]

Nice Laitz book on the shelf

[@andrekeefer2034]

You should also read his book: Evening with the orchestra.

[@ericrakestraw664]

Someday, will you do a video about Gesualdo - his crazy love life as well as his crazy chromaticism (which predates Romantic music by about three centuries)?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Gesualdo is now in the request pool.

[@ericrakestraw664]

Cool.

[@aydenpostigo2910]

Cool story

[@krismariasy9728]

Do Carlo Gesualdo. Great channel!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Gesualdo has moved up in the request pool.

[@lucasgust7720]

I wish you make a video about Liszt in your series of great composers.

[@NateSassoonMusic]

he did it!

[@lucasartscrafts6023]

Beethoven and Berlioz break'n rules! Oh, yeah

[@alexandresobreiramartins9461]

I suppose you read Stravinsky's Norton lectures book. I still can't believe he said Berlioz couldn't compose! I mean, I'm used to people attacking Wagner and saying his music is trash, but... Berlioz?!? Come on! (note, I'm a Wagnerian myself, not a fanatic as when I was a teen, but still love his music, even when my favorite composer is now by far Beethoven and I often prefer Mahler's symphonies to Wagner's operas).

[@Corlussy]

Antiono Vivaldi??????? Plzzzzzzzzz

[@ClassicalNerd]

Vivaldi has been added to the request pool at lentovivace.com/requestqueue.html

[@aydenpostigo2910]

Donn Pineda spell. Antonio correctly please

[@andrewnguyen1220]

Pls do Ottorino Respighi

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@abrahamwang1296]

good job。you do need my help to promote ur talk in China.lol

[@ClassicalNerd]

If you'd like to, you certainly can! I'm all for spreading education.

[@qwaqwa1960]

Suggest you study a bit of pronunciation... e.g., repertwahR, Kehroobeenie ;-)

[@ClassicalNerd]

Any perceived mispronunciations of English words is due to my (slight) southern accent. For foreign languages, I do my best with what I know, but make no promises on 100% accuracy. (For what it's worth, I pronounce the final "r" in repertoire, but not as hard as the other "r" sounds in the word, so sometimes it gets elided or doesn't get picked up in the mic.)

[@SpaghettiToaster]

If you had actually studied any amount of phonology (which is something you can actually study, as opposed of "pronunciation"), you'd not only know that both your suggested pronunciations are wrong in their respective languages or origin, but also that there is no standardized correct english pronunciation, making your comment disgustingly condescending as well as pretentious.

[@evanwise7131]

Yes kids don’t do drugs. Just keep writing alienating academic meandering soupiness.

[@segmentsAndCurves]

My philosophy :D

[@lynnmoorer5092]

Your videos are mildly entertaining and mostly educational. But PLEASE consult with a good opera singer or vocal teacher to learn the proper pronunciation of the French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian names and terms you mangle. All well-trained classical singers, who have to know how to pronounce lyrics correctly in all these languages, will probably wince, as I do, when we hear your jarringly inept pronunciations. For example, Saint-Saens, Massenet, Cherubini, singspiel. Please get some help!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Sometimes I make mistakes-I'm human, and phonemes that aren't in southern American English can still elude me- but it's awfully bold of you assume that a two-year-old video represents where I'm at now with the quality of the content I produce. Not only have I upgraded my set and production quality twice since this filming, I have learned German, am learning Russian, and now have a roommate that is fairly fluent in both French and Spanish.

[@lynnmoorer5092]

@@ClassicalNerd Good for you with respect to working on learning foreign languages. (BTW, unless you took part of an immersion German language program or spent a solid six months living in a German-speaking country, it takes longer than two years to learn German or most any other foreign language except Spanish.) However, as a musicologist, you need to take responsibility for everything you post. All of your videos that I've watched contain pronunciations that are still painful to hear. If you really wanted to do it right, you could go back and redo them with the proper pronunciations. (You could also omit all the jump cuts are a bit dizzying to watch.)

[@SolarMumuns]

@@lynnmoorer5092 It's possible to make suggestions without being offensive. I suggest you review what you have said and the way that you have said it so as to learn from your own errors in much the same why as you are advocating. Kind of ironic, really.

[@Mackeson3]

This remark is NOT directed toward The Classical Nerd at all but it irks me when I hear Americans say " Ay-dolf Hitler" , "Vincent Van Go" and "David Atten-bro" 😫

[@jackking2225]

Kind of struck by the tone of the remark about pronunciation of composers' names. "Mildly entertaining and mostly educational ?" At first these videos were information overload for me but for me I would say "mildly addicting and very educational." I'm more of a Russian student learning about Russian music along the way. I've heard way more jarringly mangled Russian names. Not fluent yet but reading brief passages of War and Peace in Russian. Somehow studying Russian with texts like samples of Rimsky-Korsakov's diary is where it gets entertaining for me. Not a music student so that leaves me in awe actually - obviously someone who's been teaching here. It just comes from many years of studying and enjoying. I can tell if someone in a Russian movie isn't a native speaker - I looked up the actor - he was Ukrainian - I KNEW it - his accent was different. Anyway my point is everyone comes with different backgrounds. Somehow learned to leave grin it and bear it the way literature majors mangle Russian names - I'm a language geek - spent an evening studying how all the Russian characters names are Declined in all 6 Russian cases in Anna Karenina. You only have Russian patronymics in English. In Russian in addition you have to decline all the Russia name variations into 6 different cases. Grammatical cases are practically the equivalent of musical keys or modes. Boy what a rambling comment I've just written!

[@omovitruviano]

7:10 that was Chopin about Czerny.