Berlioz Trivia Quiz

Answer: Medicine

Berlioz' father, the town doctor, wished his son to follow in his footsteps. He sent him to Paris to study medicine.

Answer: Camille Moke

Camille Moke was a beautiful pianist whom Berlioz befriended and later asked to marry. Soon after he arrived in Rome he learned that she had married Camille Pleyel, the piano manufacturer.

Answer: La Damnation de Faust

Though often staged and done so under the supervision of Berlioz himself several times, "La Damnation de Faust" is not an opera and wasn't intended for the stage. It was intended as a cantata.

Answer: Giacchino Rossini

As an avid follower of Gluck's opera reform, Berlioz had little patience and admiration for the style of opera Rossini wrote. The bel canto idiom was too frivolous and disrespectful of the grandiloquence of the genre, Berlioz believed.

Answer: Sara la Baigneuse

"Sara la Baigneuse" is a ballad. "Reverie et Caprice" is a fantasy for violin and orchestra. "Harold en Italia" is a concertante symphony for viola and orchestra. "Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale" features an extended trombone solo throughout its middle movement.

Answer: Saxophone

Adolphe Sax and Berlioz were good friends and Berlioz extols the saxophone in his treatise on orchestration. However there is no evidence that he could play it.

There is a highly prized guitar that both Berlioz and Paganini autographed.

Answer: Messa Solennelle

The "Messe Solennelle" was believed to have been destroyed, but was found in 1992 in Antwerp by a teacher. The "Gratia" from "Messe Solennelle" contains the music that was later used in the third movement of the "Symphonie Fantastique".

Answer: Herminie

Berlioz submitted "Herminie" to the Conservatoire in 1828. However, Guillaume Ross dit Despréaux won first prize that year, Berlioz finishing second.

Answer: Rob-Roy

Composed in 1831 after his suicide attempt upon learning of Camille Moke's marriage, the overture "Rob-Roy" is a reflection upon Sir Walter Scott's historical-novel about the the great Scottish folk-hero. in it there is an extensive solo for cor anglais which was later adapted for the opening of the viola solo in "Harold en Italia".

After its failure in 1833 Berlioz burned the score, intending to obliterate it. But as was often the case, he'd forgotten that he'd sent a copy of the score to someone, thus the music survives.

Answer: Richard Strauss

Though the Treatise was left largely untouched, Strauss added some instruments that had since come to prominence, and also championed it as a work to be studied widely in the quest for understanding the art of orchestration with more clarity.