Through Songs: Musical Studies, Adorations, Whims and Criticisms

Berlioz, Hector, 1803-1869Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.2
Word count
608K words
Chapters
61

Tags

Foreign Language Books Music Aesthetic ContemplationPassionate ProseCritic's VoiceArt EssaysMusic CriticismFrench RomanticismMusical Rhythm

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A travers chants: études musicales, adorations, boutades et critiques by BerliozAuthor: Berlioz, Hector, 1803-1869,Language: French, Class: ML: Music: Literature of music, Release Date: Sep 25, 2011

Editor's review

A travers chants is a collection of Berlioz's music criticism and essays; the title may be understood as rambling "through songs," and the contents cover musical studies, tributes, banter, and criticism. Its distinctive value lies in the author being both composer and sharp critic: the prose carries strong personal judgments and a sense of immediacy, letting readers see directly the contentious atmosphere of nineteenth-century French musical life. Chapters vary in length, ranging from serious scholarly discussion to light reflections and satire; it suits readers interested in music history and critical writing. The original is in French, with an ornate, rhetorical style, so some French is needed to read or translate it. As a public-domain Project Gutenberg ebook, it is easy to search in full text, suitable for researchers to cite and verify, and for music lovers to browse selectively. It is not a systematic textbook; readers should read it with questions in mind rather than expect a linear read-through.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Browse the table of contents first and select pieces by composer or theme; there is no need to start from the beginning
  2. Briefly learn about the nineteenth-century French musical environment beforehand to lower the threshold of understanding
  3. When encountering banter or satire, note the difference between rhetoric and factual judgment
  4. Excerpt representative opinions and read them against other critics of the same period

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

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FAQ

Is there a Chinese translation of this book? This Project Gutenberg ebook is in French, the original version, and does not include a Chinese translation. Chinese readers who cannot read French directly will need to find a parallel translation or use translation tools, and should note the differences between the translation and the original.
Do I need to know music theory first to read it? Not necessarily, but basic music theory and general knowledge of classical music will make the discussions easier to understand. The book comments on specific works and composers; if you can listen to the relevant pieces while reading, your understanding will be more concrete. Readers with no background at all may find it alienating.
Is this book Berlioz's memoir? No. It is a collection of music criticism and essays, including musical studies, tributes, banter, and criticism. It is critical writing, not a systematic autobiography. Readers should not expect a complete account of his life.
Is it suitable for reading straight through from beginning to end? Not very. The themes and genres of the pieces vary, and reading straight through can easily lose focus. A more effective approach is to select by table of contents the composers or topics that interest you and use it as a collection of criticism to browse at any time.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Berlioz, Hector, 1803-1869 Author

Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) was an important French composer and music critic of the Romantic era. Twelve of his works are held in this collection, spanning memoirs, correspondence, music criticism, and writings on conducting. Among them, the Mémoires record his artistic career and the musical life of his time in autobiographical form; essay collections such as A travers chants, Les musiciens et la musique, and Les soirées de l'orchestre display his keen musical judgment and distinctive critical style, written with vividness and strong personal character. Le chef d'orchestre: théorie de son art sets out his theory of conducting, while Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie records his travels, and the unedited correspondence reveals his private writing. Public information is limited, but these works show a writer who combines a composer's professional perspective with a literary expressiveness, and they have had a lasting influence on music criticism and music theory.