Hector Berlioz (1803 1869), considered the father of modern orchestration, possessed an intuitive musical genius all the more remarkable for his limited formal musical education. A brilliant colorist, a master of the unexpected rhythmic break, he brought a new symphonic richness to Romantic music.
Both damned and venerated by his contemporaries — Mendelssohn considered him devoid of talent, Paganini declared him the one true heir to the spirit of Beethoven — Berlioz seems to have sought in ...