Hector Berlioz: his music and times

Gareth Curtis

Though Hector Berlioz died a century and a half ago, he remains an intriguing and strangely isolated figure in the music of his day. His symphonies are like no others before them, he was the first composer to cultivate serious as opposed to purely picturesque programme music, he composed the first ‘monster’ Requiem, and his Damnation of Faust seems to have been one of the first significant attempts at secular oratorio –or is it radio opera before its time? – and, besides, he invented a completely new approach to orchestration.

This course will explore the rich variety of his output, looking particularly at how it does and does not fit in with the musical world he inhabited, and at the rewarding legacy which he left for those later composers who cared to engage with it.

Recommended reading:
D. Cairns: Berlioz i: the Making of an Artist 1803–1832. (London, 1989)
D. Cairns: Berlioz, ii: Servitude and Greatness 1832–1869. (London, 1999)
P. Bloom (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz. (Cambridge, 2000)
H. MacDonald: Berlioz (Master Musicians Series). (London, 2000)
H. Berlioz (transl. J. Barzun): Evenings with the Orchestra (London, 2002)
H. Berlioz (transl. D. Cairns): The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz (London, 2002)

Ten weeks, starting 14 January – 18 March, 2019.

Day: Mondays       Time: 2pm– 4pm

Venue:
Brook Road Methodist Church,
Davyhulme,
Urmston
M41 5RQ

Need to book before 29th December, 2018

Price	Concessions	Minimum No.	Maximum No.
£90		10	30

To book, complete the MANCENT booking form and send it with payment to Gareth Curtis, 25 Westbourne Park, Urmston, Manchester, M41 0XR
email:curtismusic@btinternet.com phone:0161 747 8687