REBUILD OF FAÇADE OF BERLIOZ’S ONE-TIME RESIDENCE IN LONDON DUE FOR COMPLETION IN DECEMBER
The rebuild and refurbishment of the elegant 18th century Grade 11-listed town house in London’s Marylebone quarter - 58 Queen Anne Street W1 - in which Berlioz and Marie Recio lodged in 1851, started last October and is due for completion in December this year. The façade of the building – dating from 1774 - collapsed dramatically into the street in July 2021 after the first floor balcony subsided.
Berlioz stayed in the house from May-July 1851 during his second visit to London as member of the international jury assessing musical instruments at the Great Exhibition in nearby Hyde Park. It is the only one of several abodes during his five visits to London between 1847 and 1855, still extant. An impressive blue plaque adorns the front entrance to the house which at the time of Berlioz’s stay hosted concerts by the Beethoven Quartet Society as mentioned in the composer’s Les Soirées de l’Orchestre. It was owned at that time by Adolphe Duchêne de Vère, an active supporter of Berlioz; his English wife Isabelle Ann Hood, was a close friend of Marie Recio.
The restoration project involves the refurbishment of the interior office floors, the replacement of a rear extension as well as a ‘reinstatement’ of the front façade.
Christopher Follett
LPO TO PERFORM FANTASTIQUE UNDER EDWARD GARDNER, 26 FEBRUARY 2025
The London Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner will play Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique at a concert in the Royal Festival Hall on February 26 2025 at 7.30pm (also works by Sawer & Britten).
For more information, and to purchase tickets, please click here.
SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA PLAY BERLIOZ, 27 & 28 FEBRUARY 2025
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Manze, will perform Berlioz's Beatrice & Benedict Overture (along with Fauré's Requiem and Vaughan Williams' Songs) in concerts in Edinburgh and Glasgow next February.
February 27: Usher Hall, Edinburgh - for details and tickets please click here.
February 28: City Halls, Glasgow- for details and tickets please click here.
LSO TO DELIVER SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE AT HALF SIX FIX AT BARBICAN, 21 MAY 2025
Antonio Pappano and LSO will perform Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique at the Barbican at an early evening Half Six Fix concert with presentation by conductor at the Barbican on May 21 at 6.30pm. For tickets and details please click here.
PAPPANO/LSO TO PLAY SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE & LE CORSAIRE OVERTURE AT THE BARBICAN, 22 MAY 2025
Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra will play on a (largely) Berlioz programme at the Barbican on May 22 2025 at 7pm, featuring the overture Le Corsaire and the Symphonie fantastique. For more details please click here.
TE DEUM AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, 13 JULY 2025
The Vivace Chorus and others will sing Berlioz's Te Deum under the baton of Jeremy Backhouse at the Royal Albert Hall, 7.30pm on July 13 2025, Further details will be made available nearer the time.
GRANDE SYMPHONIE FUNÈBRE ET TRIOMPHALE: Rattle · Berliner Philharmoniker 2013
A recording of the Berlin Philharmonic performing the Grande Symphonie funèbre et triomphale under Sir Simon Rattle, recorded at the Gala Concert "50 years of the Philharmonie" on 20 October 2013, can be viewed by registering on the orchestra's website, which offers seven days' free viewing.
To register and access the video, please click here.
RICHARD MACNUTT
We report with sadness the death of Richard Macnutt, on 30 April, at the age of 88. He had been unwell for some time and was much missed at the Society’s meetings in the last few years. Richard was passionate about Berlioz, and unostentatiously contributed a very great amount to modern research. Hugh Macdonald reminds us his energy and determination were instrumental in setting up and administering the New Berlioz Edition; Hugh said that without him it might never have been launched. Richard prepared a thorough revision of Cecil Hopkinson’s definitive Bibliography of Hector Berlioz and published it himself (Tunbridge Wells: Richard Macnutt Ltd, 1980); he contributed to the Society’s Bulletin; and he published an article on the vexed question of the Berlioz forgeries, identifying no fewer than 155. He traded in second-hand books and music, and was himself a collector; he donated several rare items to the Bibliothèque nationale.
EXCELLENT BERLIOZ CONDUCTOR ANDREW DAVIS DIES IN CHICAGO AGED 80
Andrew Davis was one of Britain's leading conductors, remembered as longtime chief of the Toronto, BBC and Melbourne symphony orchestras, music director of the Glyndebourne Festival from 1988-2000, famous for conducting the Last Night of the BBC Proms. Davis was known for his fine performances of Berlioz, notably the Symphonie fantastique and the Overtures, his recent Chandos recording of which with the Bergen Philharmonic received accolades; he had been scheduled to perform the Christmas cantata L'Enfance du Christ with the BBC S.O. in London in December.
NEW HANDBOOK ON SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE BY JULIAN RUSHTON
Julian Rushton, editor of the Society Bulletin and author of the excellent Cambridge Music Handbook on Roméo et Juliette, has written a handbook on the Symphonie fantastique. This book was published in November 2023 and as an introductory offer will be offered with a 20% discount. Details are given below.
THE TROJANS IN NOTTINGHAM
Nottingham Music Hub have just released a performance of the Act 1 finale to Berlioz’s epic 5 act opera The Trojans.
This dramatic scene of the famous wooden horse being brought into Troy was recorded live last week at Nottingham Music Hub’s Great Orchestra Experiment and performed by the Robin Hood Youth Orchestra with hundreds of year 4 city children and featuring Helena Payne as Cassandra.
We are sharing this performance to celebrate the energy, commitment and sense of drama our young musicians have brought to this masterpiece.
NEW PUBLISHER FOR MEMOIRS AUDIOBOOK
The audiobook of the complete and unexpurgated Memoirs of Berlioz, using the classic translation by our President, David Cairns and read by the esteemed actor Malcolm Sinclair, is now available for just £15 from exciting new online publisher Spiracle: please click here for more details, and to purchase. The audiobook is available through many other outlets but Spiracle offer the Society the best royalties, so you would be helping both of us by purchasing through this channel.
This is a splendid chance to treat a fellow Berliozian, or to make new converts!
"DISCOVERING BERLIOZ" BY DAVID CAIRNS OUT ON TOCCATA PRESS
"Discovering Berlioz - Essays, Reviews, Talks" - the new, 400-page book on Berlioz by Society President David Cairns is now out and available (price £39.50) on Toccata Press, London.
For further details please click here.
PETER BLOOM'S NEW ANNOTATIONS FOR BERLIOZ MÉMOIRES PUBLISHED
French publisher Vrin has announced the publication of U.S. Professor Emeritus Peter Bloom's fresh annotations to Berlioz's Mémoires, a major 900-page project supported in part by the Berlioz Society. A compendious work by a leading Berliozian scholar, casting fascinating new light on the Memoirs. In French.
MÉMOIRES D'HECTOR BERLIOZ DE 1803 À 1865, ET SES VOYAGES EN ITALIE, EN ALLEMAGNE, EN RUSSIE ET EN ANGLETERRE ÉCRIT PAR LUI-MÊME
Price 49€ - For more information please click here.
CONCERT MONSTRE - PERFORMANCE FILMED
24 June 2019 saw five hundred artists on stage at the Philharmonie de Paris, performing the Funeral and Triumphal Symphony under the direction of François-Xavier Roth.
To watch, please click here. Thanks to Jim Hart for sending the link.
BERLIOZ LETTERS PUBLISHED BY ACTES SUD
The long-awaited ninth volume of the Correspondance générale - entitled "New Letters by Berlioz, his family and contemporaries" - has appeared - with some 300 hitherto unpublished letters - as a continuation of the initial eight volumes published by Flammarion under the editorial supervision of the late Pierre Citron. This latest volume is published by Actes Sud and the Palazzetto Bru Zane, with support from the Association nationale Hector Berlioz, the Musée Hector Berlioz, the Festival Berlioz, Smith College USA and the Fondation d'entreprise La Poste.
This collection is available in French only.
Nouvelles lettres de Berlioz, de sa famille, de ses contemporains
Peter Bloom, Joël-Marie Fauquet, Hugh J. Macdonald, Cécile Reynaud (Editors)
Published by Actes Sud / Palazzetto Bru Zane, 792 pages, price 30 € (available from Musée Hector Berlioz - price includes postage and packing).