Hector Berlioz
One of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, Hector Berlioz struggled to
gain acceptance in France, where he was admired elsewhere, but posterity has
given him a place of honour thanks to works such as the Symphonie fantastique
and the Requiem, or the operas Roméo et Juliette and La Damnation de Faust.
Hector Berlioz was born on December 11, 1803 in Côte-Saint-André, Isère, where
his father practiced medicine. As a young man, he learned to play the flageolet,
flute and guitar, unusual instruments for the great composers of his time. He
studied the music theory treatises of ...
