Perhaps best known for his dramatic "Symphonie Fantastique," Hector Berlioz was the preeminent romantic French composer of the 19th century. Created and maintained by Monir Tayeb and Michael Austin, this Web site brings together an impressive amount of information about Berlioz, including many of his writings, compositions, and reviews (as he was a well-known critic). Music students and aficionados will want to take a look at the (almost) complete collection of scores available here, which include detailed notes and comments on different works. Along with an annotated bibliography of scholarship about Berlioz, a section describing Berlioz's predecessors and contemporaries examines the inspiration he gained from the works of Shakespeare and Beethoven. A rather novel feature of the site is the Berlioz's Paris section, which provides a visual commentary on his life in the city, complete with photographs of places where he lived and other locations of note.
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