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Do you love books for the worlds they open up? Hector Berlioz did too, and his musical imagination was fueled by what he read. This week, hear music inspired by Virgil, Shakespeare, Goethe… and maybe even Harry Potter.
Howdy, howdy, howdy! I’m Solomon Reynolds, and this is: Saturday Morning Car Tunes! This morning…
Hector Berlioz had a wild imagination which was shaped by his love of reading. He devoured books, and every story took him to new musical worlds. Berlioz’ father read to him as a child, which started his lifelong love of books. After reading Waverley, by the Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott, Berlioz wrote this overture.
The Rob Roy Overture was based on another book in the Waverley series.
After reading books about pirates and the ocean, Berlioz wrote his Corsaire Overture. Corsaire is French for “pirate.” Can you hear them in the music?
A poem by Lord Byron and Berlioz’ own travel experiences turned into a symphonic viola concerto: Harold in Italy.
The Roman Carnival Overture is Berlioz at his most brilliant. The showpiece was inspired by the action-packed autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini.
Hands down, one of Berlioz’ all-time favorite authors was William Shakespeare. The Bard showed him every facet of human nature and influenced a lot of his own music, like his dramatic symphony Romeo and Juliet.
For Berlioz, Shakespeare was the peak of poetic expression: honest, dramatic, a rulebreaker. This is the overture to his opera Beatrice and Benedick, based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
In addition to Shakespeare, the German author Goethe also affected Berlioz. He called them both his “silent confidants” who “[held] the key to [his] life.” Goethe’s play Faust depicted humanity in a way that deeply resonated with Berlioz. This is the “Hungarian March” from The Damnation of Faust.
As a child, Berlioz’s father read him Virgil’s Aeneid, stories that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Later, he turned those stories into an opera, The Trojans, which became one of the greatest operas of the 19th century.
But when you think of the most famous music inspired by a book, what comes to mind?
Books are full of magic and wonder, with new worlds to explore. Where will your reading take you next?
I’m Solomon Reynolds. I write and produce Saturday Morning Car Tunes, with research assistant Carolina Correa and audio engineer Stephen Page, only on Classical California. Tune in—or out of your car—next Saturday morning!
