Berlioz, Hector. (1803-1869)
"Roméo et Juliette" - Autograph Musical Quotation with CDV Photograph
Scarce AMQS from the important French romantic composer and shaper of the modern orchestra, mounted together with a cdv portrait photograph (without photographer's imprint). Berlioz has penned six measures from the "Love Scene" of his Roméo et Juliette, indicated as "Adagio," and boldly signed below the the music. Dated (perhaps in another hand) at the lower left: Paris, 1861. Toned, else fine. AMQS measuring approx. 18 x 5 cm, the full presentation measuring 29.5 x 21 cm.In Roméo et Juliette (1839), Berlioz revisits his passion for Shakespeare, and, by extension, for the woman whose renditions of Juliet and Ophelia had completely captivated him more than a decade earlier, Harriet Smithson. By the time he composed Roméo, Berlioz' love for her had become harsh reality: He was married to Harriet, but the match had proven unsuccessful and the two were effectively separated. But Berlioz had seen Romeo and Juliet at the Odéon during the 1827 Shakespeare season, and had found himself overwhelmed, writing that "more experiences of that kind would have killed me." Berlioz conducted the first three performances of Roméo et Juliette in Paris in November and December 1839. After hearing a performance of the work in Vienna in January 1846, he revised it thoroughly and conducted the premiere of this final version in Prague on April 17, 1846. In his Memoirs, Berlioz wrote that the "Love Scene" was his favorite among his works, and described the fevered period during which he had composed Roméo et Juliette: "Oh the ardent existence I lived during that time! I struck out boldly across that great ocean of poetry, caressed by the wild, sweet breeze of fancy, under that fiery sun of love that Shakespeare kindled. I felt within me the strength to reach the enchanted isle where the temple of pure art stands under a clear sky. It is not for me to determine whether I succeeded." (13288)
AMQS Classical Music