Experiencing Berlioz: A Listener’s Companion is an in-depth entrée into the sound world of Hector Berlioz, recognized today as one of the most profoundly original and engaging composers in 19th-century Europe. Melinda P. O’Neal offers the non-specialist a pathway into the underlying allure of Berlioz’s music. His views on rehearsing and conducting, bumpy career ride and failures, the journey of a work through revisions and editions, and historical performance practices provide a backdrop to discussions of his most significant works.
As O’Neal addresses the motivation and conception, sonic atmosphere, and compositional strategies of key works, she provides a new multifaceted experience not only to music historians and performers but also to any amateur music lover who has ever been entranced by Berlioz’s undeniable musical veracity. As the listener interacts with Berlioz’s music, the ear’s curiosity and imagination will take flight.
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“Beautifully written, clearly organized, creatively detailed, and full of information and insight on the works of Berlioz. This volume will be both a helpful guide for the passionate listener and a valuable resource for the performing musician. Highly recommended.”
— Joseph Flummerfelt, artistic director emeritus, Westminster Choir College
“On first hearing Berlioz’s music, many people report the experience as if they had been seized by the collar and shaken to the roots. If that happens to you, the perfect guide is O’Neal’s thoughtful tour through his entire output. This is essential reading.”
— Hugh Macdonald, general editor, The New Berlioz Edition, and former Avis Blewett Professor of Music,
Washington University, St Louis
“An engaging and informative exploration of the life, compositional style, and catalog of Hector Berlioz. Elegantly written with refreshing clarity, it is a wonderful resource and will be appreciated by lovers of music, lay and professional. I highly recommend this book!”
— Marietta Simpson, mezzo-soprano and Rudy Professor of Music, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
“This guide to Berlioz’s music by an eminent choral conductor puts his vocal work front and center where it belongs, despite his fame as a composer of symphonies. O’Neal’s entertaining, infectiously enthusiastic, perceptive, knowledgeable descriptions will serve listeners and performers alike.”
— Katherine Kolb, editor, Berlioz on Music: Selected Criticism
“O’Neal obviously revels in the stunning sonic brilliance of Berlioz’s writing, and her love is contagious.”
— John Nelson, international conductor
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Melinda P. O’Neal is a choral-orchestral conductor and professor of music at Dartmouth College. Her fascination with the music of Berlioz began when rehearsing the final mysical chorus of L’enfance du Christ in graduate school. Berlioz has been the subject of O’Neal’s teaching and writing, and she has prepared choruses and conducted in performance most of his vocal-instrumental works.
