Intro

Hector Berlioz was a pioneering French Romantic composer, conductor, and master of orchestration. Unlike many composers of his time, he was not a virtuoso pianist, instead learning the flute and guitar, which influenced his distinctive orchestral style. He composed a range of large-scale works, including Harold en Italie, Roméo et Juliette, and his Requiem(Grande Messe des Morts). His most celebrated work, Symphonie fantastique, was composed in 1830 and was inspired by his obsession with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson after seeing her perform as Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Deeply influenced by both Beethoven and Shakespeare, Berlioz created one of the earliest and most influential examples of programme music, depicting the dreams,passions and hallucinations of a young artist.