COMPOSER

Hector Berlioz

1803 - 1869

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Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy, choral pieces including the Requiem and L'Enfance du Christ, his three operas Benvenuto Cellini, Les Troyens and Béatrice et Bénédict, and works of hybrid genres such as the "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette and the "dramatic legend" La Damnation de Faust. The elder son of a provincial physician, Berlioz was expected to follow his father into medicine, and he attended a Parisian medical college before defying his family by taking up music as a profession. His independence of mind and refusal to follow traditional rules and formulas put him at odds with the conservative musical establishment of Paris. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Hector Berlioz is the 25th most popular composer (up from 32nd in 2019), the 68th most popular biography from France (up from 114th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular French Composer.

Hector Berlioz is most famous for his symphony "Symphonie Fantastique."

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Among COMPOSERS

Among composers, Hector Berlioz ranks 25 out of 1,451. Before him are Gioachino Rossini, Felix Mendelssohn, Edvard Grieg, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Claudio Monteverdi, and Maurice Ravel. After him are Georges Bizet, Claude Debussy, Bedřich Smetana, Jacques Offenbach, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Ennio Morricone.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1803, Hector Berlioz ranks 1. After him are Christian Doppler, Prosper Mérimée, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Justus von Liebig, Maria Anna of Savoy, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Adolphe Adam, Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Albrecht von Roon, Flora Tristan, and Maria Teresa of Savoy. Among people deceased in 1869, Hector Berlioz ranks 1. After him are Franklin Pierce, Alphonse de Lamartine, Ghalib, Allan Kardec, Edwin Stanton, Jan Evangelista Purkyně, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Johann Friedrich Overbeck, Hijikata Toshizō, Thomas Graham, and Antoine-Henri Jomini.

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In France

Among people born in France, Hector Berlioz ranks 68 out of 6,770. Before him are Louis XVII of France (1785), Gustave Eiffel (1832), Cardinal Richelieu (1585), Maurice Ravel (1875), Romain Rolland (1866), and Charles Perrault (1628). After him are Auguste Rodin (1840), Georges Bizet (1838), Claude Debussy (1862), Charles XIV John of Sweden (1763), Francis I of France (1494), and Pierre de Coubertin (1863).

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Among COMPOSERS In France

Among composers born in France, Hector Berlioz ranks 3. Before him are Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1520), and Maurice Ravel (1875). After him are Georges Bizet (1838), Claude Debussy (1862), Camille Saint-Saëns (1835), Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683), Charles Gounod (1818), Erik Satie (1866), Gabriel Fauré (1845), François Couperin (1668), and Jules Massenet (1842).

French born Composers

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