Berlioz on music : selected criticism, 1824-1837

329 Pages·2015·2.232 MB·English, French

by  Berlioz, Hector, Kolb, Katherine, Rosenberg, Samuel N

Berlioz on Music
Miniature portrait of Berlioz by Pierre-Paul de Pommayrac, oil on ivory, ca. 1839.
Musée Hector Berlioz, La Côte-Saint-André, by permission.
Berlioz on Music
Selected Criticism 1824–1837
z
Edited by
KATHERINE KOLB
Translated by
SAMUEL N. ROSENBERG
1
3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berlioz, Hector, 1803–1869.
[Prose works. Selections. English]
Berlioz on music : selected criticism, 1824–1837 / edited by Katherine Kolb ; translated by
Samuel N. Rosenberg.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–939195–0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Musical criticism—France—19th century.
I. Kolb, Katherine, editor. II. Rosenberg, Samuel N., translator. III. Title.
ML410.B5A5 2014
780.9—dc23
2014023062
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
Editor’s Preface xv
About the Companion Website xix
Editor’s Introduction 1
1. Musical Polemic: On “Dilettanti” 27
Le Corsaire, January 11, 1824
Definition of “dilettante”; Italian vs. French opera;
Rossini vs. Gluck
2. Musical Polemic: On Armide and Gluck 30
Le Corsaire, December 19, 1825
Criticism as understanding vs. carping; misprints and
borrowings in Gluck; defense of Gluck; attack on
Castil-Blaze (M. XXX)
3. The Arts: Observations on Classical Music and Romantic Music 34
Le Correspondant, October 22, 1830
Romantic manifesto for music: definition of music;
Classical scholasticism vs. Romantic liberty; Gluck as
first Romantic; instrumental expressiveness; Weber and
Beethoven
4. Concert Society of the Conservatoire: First Concert 41
Revue européenne, April 1833
Beethoven and the Egyptian pyramids; Weber’s
Freischütz; Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony
vi Contents
5. Music Review: Concerts 47
Le Rénovateur, December 15, 1833
Liszt, Chopin, and Ferdinand Hiller; launching of the
Symphonie fantastique
6. Music Review 52
Le Rénovateur, January 12, 1834
Measures of progress in audience education; Mozart’s
Don Giovanni ill-served at the Théâtre-Italien; Beethoven
quartets well performed and well received
7. Music Review 56
Le Rénovateur, February 23, 1834
Balls at the Opéra; Opéra-Comique woes and solutions;
Beethoven by the Müller Quartet; Chopin; Mozart’s Don
Giovanni at the Opéra-Italien vs. Don Juan at the Opéra;
Handel festival in London
8. Music Review: Concerts 61
Le Rénovateur, April 27, 1834
Women performers; violinist Hauman’s communicative
emotion; Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Shakespeare’s
Othello; Cherubini aria sung by Ponchard; rarity of great
singers
9. Gluck (Part I) 66
Gazette musicale de Paris, June 1, 1834
Biographical sketch; critique admirative of monologue
from Il Telemaco
(Part II in companion website )
10. Music Review: Beethoven and the Dilettanti of Bordeaux 73
Le Rénovateur, June 8, 1834
Turkish music; Beethoven’s “Eroica” booed in Bordeaux;
musical conditions in the provinces; oasis of progress in
Lyon
11. Music Review: Henri Reber Quartets 77
Le Rénovateur, July 20, 1834
Contents vii
Jealousy vs. solidarity among artists; trials of young
composers; ironies about Conservatoire training; Liszt
performs in Reber’s piano trio
12. Music Review: Funeral Service for Choron (I) 81
Le Rénovateur, August 11, 1834
Choron, voice teacher and propagator of sacred music
of the past; funeral service at the Invalides: Mozart
Requiem, Jommelli, and Palestrina
13. Music Review: Funeral Service for Choron (II) 85
Gazette musicale de Paris, September 7, 1834
Decline of religious music in France; destruction of
ancien régime choir schools; church ban on women
singers; inadequate “Tuba mirum” of Mozart’s Requiem;
visions of grandiose musical possibilities
14. Rossini’s William Tell (Part I) 90
Gazette musicale de Paris, October 12, 1834
Rossini’s new manner; Overture—detailed analysis
(Parts II, III, and IV in companion website )
15. Boieldieu 94
Le Rénovateur, October 14, 1834
Funeral music for Boieldieu; survey of requiems;
Cherubini
16. Notice to Readers Idle Enough to Read My Articles 98
Le Rénovateur, November 2-3, 1834
Satirical announcement of Berlioz’s upcoming concert,
conducted by Girard; amusing summary of Harold in
Italy
17. Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris (Part I) 101
Gazette musicale de Paris, November 9, 1834
Early enthusiasm for Gluck; life-changing first experience
of Gluck’s masterpiece at the Opéra
(Parts II, III, and IV in companion website )
viii Contents
18. Music Review: À elle, Letters for Piano by Chrétien Urhan 105
Le Rénovateur, November 16, 1834
Music as poetry and as expression; conditions for
appreciating such music; analysis of Urhan’s evocative
pieces
19. Gabussi’s Ernani at the Théâtre-Italien 109
Le Rénovateur, December 5, 1834
Disappointing adaptation of Hugo’s epoch-making play;
assessment of Théâtre-Italien orchestra
20. Music Review: Opéra: William Tell; Opéra-Comique: Zémire et
Azor (Reprise); Concerts 112
Le Rénovateur, December 23, 1834
Falling standards at the Opéra; success of Grétry’s work;
concert initiative at the Opéra-Comique; “little” Paris
concerts vs. grand Handel festival in Vienna
21. Conservatoire Orchestra: First Concert [Eighth Season] 117
Journal des débats, January 25, 1835
Music in Paris before the founding of the Conservatoire
Orchestra; circumstances of that founding; piece-by-
piece analysis of a typically varied concert including
Schubert’s “The Nun”; ridiculous “Amen” fugue in
Beethoven’s Missa solemnis vs. fugal perfection in
Mozart’s overture to The Magic Flute
22. Critical Review: “Le Moine,” Text by Émilien Pacini, Music by
G. Meyerbeer 125
Gazette musicale de Paris, February 8, 1835
Struggle between sensuality and piety in Meyerbeer’s
song; well-deserved success
23. Third Concert at the Conservatoire: Symphonies by Haydn and
Beethoven 127
Journal des débats, February 20, 1835
Haydn symphonies vs. choral works; progress in music;
digression on Gluck; Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony
Contents ix
24. Music Review: Royal Academy of Music: First Performance of La
Juive, Opera in Five Acts by MM. Scribe and Halévy 133
Le Rénovateur, March 1, 1835
Critics on libretto vs. music; plot summary; scenic excess;
visual vs. vocal in opera; triumph for Mlle. Falcon
25. Music Review: Concert by the Pupils of Choron at the Hôtel de
Ville 140
Le Rénovateur, March 17, 1835
Poor showing by remnants of Choron’s school; difficulties of
performing Palestrina; Choron as composer; duo by Clari; scene from
Le Juif errant by Monpou; Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata performed by
Baillot and Hiller
26. Concert Society of the Conservatoire: Fourth Concert 145
Journal des débats, March 22, 1835
Quest for great music in Paris by an enthusiast from
the provinces; scene from Weber’s Euryanthe; man's
tirade against arrangers; Beethoven: Prisoners’ Chorus
from Fidelio, quartet movement by full string section,
“Pastoral” Symphony as glimpse of a higher world
27. Sixth Conservatoire Concert 154
Journal des débats, April 18, 1835
Analysis of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; extraordinary
audience responses, notably to the Finale; Napoleonic
hauntings
28. Concert by Franz Liszt: Hôtel de Ville (Salle Saint-Jean) 161
Journal des débats, April 25, 1835
Symphony by Hiller; “Ballade du pêcheur” from Berlioz’s
Mélologue (Lélio); new work by Liszt based on themes
from Lélio; trivial vs. poetic arrangements; Girard’s
transcription for orchestra of Beethoven’s “Moonlight”
Sonata (first movement); his interpretation of Pilgrim’s
March from Berlioz’s Harold in Italy