Berlioz: Volume One: The Making of an Artist, 1803-1832 [Abridged] [Hardcover]

David Cairns (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520221990 | ISBN-13: 978-0520221994 | Publication Date: March 6, 2000 | Edition: 1

This biography of composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) describes with unprecedented intimacy, affection, and respect the life of one of France's greatest artists. After long being regarded as an oddity and an eccentric figure, Berlioz is now being accepted into the ranks of the great composers. Based on a wealth of previously unpublished sources, and on a profound understanding of the humanity of his subject, David Cairns's book provides a full account of this extraordinary and powerfully attractive man.
Berlioz, Volume I, previously published only in Britain, is now available to American readers in a revised edition, together with the eagerly awaited, new Volume II. These two volumes together comprise a monumental biographical achievement, sure to stand as the definitive Berlioz biography.
In researching Berlioz's life, Cairns has had access to unpublished family papers, and in Volume I he is able to portray all the people close to Berlioz in his boyhood, and to evoke a detailed picture of their lives in and around La Côte St.-André in the foothills of the French Alps. No artist's achievement connects more directly with early experience than that of Berlioz, whose passionate sensibility began to absorb the material of his art long before he had heard any musical ensemble other than the local town band. Volume I also traces the student years in Paris and Italy and discusses Berlioz's three great love affairs, shedding remarkable light on his later character and development. Volume I ends on the afternoon of December 9, 1832, the day of the concert that launched the composer's career.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

At over 1500 pages, this monumental two-volume biography of France's greatest Romantic composer well deserves the accolades it will surely receive from musicologists. Cairns, chief music critic of the (London) Sunday Times from 1983 to 1992 and a distinguished visiting professor at the University of California at Davis, wrote the first volume more than ten years ago and published it only in Britain. Here, he presents a revised and corrected edition for American readers, along with the long-awaited second volume, which is nearly as voluminous. The sequel picks up the biographical thread in 1833 with the introduction of Harriet Smithson, the English actress who became Berlioz's muse, obsession, and wife. While the accounts of their tempestuous marriage make for fascinating and, at times, hair-raising reading, some of the most memorable passages are by Berlioz himself. His prose reveals him to have been a somewhat reluctant, often caustic, but always perceptive music critic. Both volumes are pure life narratives; there is no musical analysis, nor are there musical examples. At times readers, awash in biographical detail, may wish for more information on the music itself, but Cairns's prose is so elegant and readable, his subject so fascinating, and his scholarship so impressive that they will forgive him. Truly a definitive study, these two volumes belong in all major collections.
-Larry A. Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

"David Cairns's BERLIOZ wins this year's Whitbread Biography Award for his masterly evocation of the inner man as well as the outer world in which he lived and worked.The judges felt that this biography is a work of art in itself which will still be enjoyed and admired in centuries to come." --Whitbread Biography Award Committee

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (March 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520221990
• ISBN-13: 978-0520221994
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,607,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Passionate Man, April 25, 2000

By 

Bruce Loveitt (Ogdensburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Berlioz: Volume One: The Making of an Artist, 1803-1832 (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book both for the lay reader and for the musically knowledgeable. It says a great deal about how well written this book is that someone like me who knows nothing about music could still enjoy the book so much. Mr. Cairns takes the tale from the birth of Berlioz in 1803 up until 1832, when he was in his late 20's. You learn about his relationship with his parents, who were opposed to his choice of composer for a career, and his sisters. We are very fortunate that this was a great age for letter writing. Mr. Cairns makes judicious use of the correspondence between Berlioz and his family and friends to the point where you almost feel yourself to be a friend or family member. You get inside the young composer's mind as he tries to convince his parents that his desire to write music is not just a "whim", but something that he is absolutely passionate about and must do. Berlioz was also extremely sensitive and romantic. After seeing the English actress Harriet Smithson perform on stage in several works by Shakespeare he developed an obsessive love for her, even though he had never met her. He had an apartment across the street from where she lived and would longingly watch her comings and goings. He eventually wrote her several notes expressing his feelings but she rebuffed him, quite understandably one would think! (She had also heard a rumor, which was untrue, that he was an epileptic.) Shortly after coming to the realization that Smithson was unattainable Berlioz met the virtuoso pianist Camille Moke and they fell in love with each other and eventually got engaged. Alas, when poor Hector had to go to Rome to live in order to receive grant money from winning the Prix de Rome, Camille dumped him and opted for security by marrying a wealthy man. This soured Hector on women for awhile but did not diminish his love for music, nature and life. Mr. Cairns has been a professional music critic and is also a scholar, so he understands and ably explains the technical aspects of Berlioz's music. I was totally lost in these sections but my ignorance did not diminish my enjoyment of this sympathetic and wonderfully written book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible., May 13, 2000

By 

Liam Sinclair - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berlioz: Volume One: The Making of an Artist, 1803-1832 (Hardcover)

This really is one of the best biographies of any subject to come my way.I didn't know a lot of Berlioz's music before approaching this but it didn't actually matter.All the elements of a gripping novel are here only for they're true!-fighting paternal disapproval,living in poverty in Paris,eloping with a virtuoso pianist-it's all here and Cairns paints such an intimate picture that you can't but fail to admire Berlioz and his dogged determination to be a composer and write HIS music only to be continually rebuked in his native homeland.The efforts that the man had to go to just to hear his own music is truly heartbreaking.Biography doesn't get much better than this-especially if you're only even remotely interested in music or art.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Scholar, September 19, 2001

By 

Alfred H. Harris (Pebble Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berlioz: Volume One: The Making of an Artist, 1803-1832 (Hardcover)

David Cairns is a great Berlioz scholar. Like to meet him someday. His translation of "Memoirs" is much superior to Newmans.I bought the 1st volume of the biography some years ago when it first came out and the second a couple of years ago when it was first published. I revisit these volumes frequently. Berlioz was one of the really great romantics. At least 50 years before his time. Glad to see SF opera is planning on staging Cellini & B & B over the next few years. Sixtus Beckmesser