Berlioz and Wagner - Episodes in the lives of the artists

When in 1839 Wagner met Berlioz in Paris, the nearly thirty-six-year-old Fr ench composer was already established as the controversial composer of a Re quiem Mass, an opera that has recently failed at the Academie Royale de Mus ique, and three unconventional symphonies in which 'story' and structure we re combined in novel ways. As he attempted to make his way in Paris, Wagner was disturbed not only by hearing the Ninth Symphony played more brilliant ly than he had ever imagined but also by hearing Berlioz's dramatic symphon y Romeo et Juliette, which surely caused him to further clarify his own not ions of music and drama. From 1839 until Berlioz's death in 1869 and beyond , Wagner seems always to have had mixed feelings about Berlioz when reflect ing on earlier experiences. This article considers the impact of Berlioz on Wagner--his absorption of Berlioz's procedure of 'reunion de themes', for example--and Berlioz's impression of Wagner: his respect for the German's a bility to attract attention to himself and to compose his own librettos. Al though Wagner's renown became far greater than Berlioz's, he had a tendency to 'fear' Berlioz as compositional rival and, because Berlioz was so vital an artistic figure, as a rival for the mantle of Beethoven, which Wagner h oped to inherit alone.