Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette

Featuring

Michael Tilson Thomas
Sasha Cooke
Nicholas Phan
Luca Pisaroni
San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony Chorus

Hector Berlioz

Did you know?

1/7

Composition History

Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette was commissioned by the renowned violinist Niccolò Paganini, who was impressed by Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.

Recording & Production

This recording of Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette was made live at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco from June 28 to July 1, 2017.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Berlioz insisted that Roméo et Juliette was a "choral symphony," not an opera or cantata, despite its use of voices.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Berlioz idolized Shakespeare's works, viewing them as reflecting the Romantic aesthetic of highly personalized expression.

Compositional Technique

Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette is an original "dramatic symphony" that incorporates elements from oratorio, melodrama, operatic movements, song, and ballet, in addition to standard symphonic writing.

Composition History

Niccolò Paganini gifted Berlioz 20,000 francs after hearing Harold en Italie, providing Berlioz with financial security to compose Roméo et Juliette.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Berlioz chose instrumental language over sung words for the love scenes in Roméo et Juliette, believing it to be "richer, more varied, less precise, and by its very indefiniteness incomparably more powerful."