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Donald Macleod investigates the origins of Berlioz’s flair for drama

Berlioz burst onto the musical stage of 19th-century Paris, determined to break the mould of France’s elegant and refined classical style. He wanted to create music that could be bombastic, barbaric and grotesque, as well as sentimental, scintillating and sorrowful. In this, he was inspired by writers as much as fellow musicians. He was captivated by stories and crowded his imagination with the tales of Virgil, Scott, Goethe and, most of all, William Shakespeare. This week, Donald Macleod traces the tangled literary connections in Berlioz’s life and music, including the profound spell cast by Shakespeare over the composer’s art and personality.

Today, fantasy spills into real-life, not for the last time, as teenage Berlioz is emboldened by his favourite romantic novel to pursue his young neighbour, Estelle Dubœuf.

Symphonie fantastique: IV. Marche au supplice
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Claudio Abbado

Harold en Italie: III. Sérénade
William Lincer, viola
New York Philharmonic
conducted by Leonard Bernstein

Les Nuits d'été: IV. Absence, VI. L'île inconnue
Dame Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano
New Philharmonia Orchestra
conducted by Sir John Barbirolli

Waverley, Grande Ouverture
Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse
conducted by Michel Plasson

Roméo et Juliette: Part 1 (extracts)
Michèle Losier, mezzo-soprano
Samuel Boden, tenor
´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra
´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Chorus
conducted by Sir Andrew Davis