Berlioz, (Louis) Hector

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French Romantic composer. He is regarded as the founder of modern orchestration. Much of his music was inspired by drama and literature and has a theatrical quality. He wrote symphonic works, such as Symphonie fantastique/Fantasy Symphony (1830) and Roméo et Juliette/Romeo and Juliet (1839); dramatic cantatas including La Damnation de Faust/The Damnation of Faust (1846) and L'Enfance du Christ/The Childhood of Christ (1850–54); sacred music; and three operas: Benvenuto Cellini (1838), Les Troyens/The Trojans (1856–58), and Béatrice et Bénédict/Beatrice and Benedict (1860–62).

Berlioz studied music at the Paris Conservatory. He won the Prix de Rome in 1830, and spent two years in Italy. In 1833 he married Harriet Smithson, an Irish actress playing Shakespearean parts in Paris, but they separated in 1842. After some years of poverty and public neglect, he went to Germany in 1842, where he conducted his own works. He later visited Russia and England. In 1854 he married Marie Recio, a singer.

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