"Posted by: Bernhard Posted on: Aug 5th, 2004, 12:52am
Nope. Shame on him (he hated the piano). "
Wrong!! . He once stayed with Chopin at Sand's home in the french countryside. his pavillon was next to Chopin and he mentionned in a letter how delightfull it was to listen to chopin at the piano.
He did not "hate" it.
Although the majority of romantic composers were pianists (and many like Liszt were virtuosos of the instrument), Berlioz never learned to play the piano. As a child he learned the flute and the guitar. His family (who was rich) wanted him to study medicine and that he did for two years (the worst of his life according to him). He is on record to say this about the piano and pianists:
Piano shy?: 'My father would not let me take up the piano; otherwise I should no doubt have turned into a formidable pianist in company with 40,000 others ........... and thus saved me from the tyranny of keyboard habits, so dangerous to thought, and from the lure of conventional sonorities, to which all composers are prone.' (Hector Berlioz)
Part of his dislike for pianos may well have had non-musical origins. He fell deeply in love with Maria Moke, who apparently reciprocated his feelings. He went to Rome, but after three weeks without news from her, he returned to Paris. On his way, in Florence, he found out that she had married Camille Pleyel, the piano manufacturer. He was livid. He decided to kill Maria, Camille, her mother, and then commit suicide. He got as far as Nice, but by then he had cooled down enough to go back on his murderous plans. Eventually Maria bedded a lot of famous pianists (she was an accomplished pianist herself), including Liszt, making Camille a well-known cuckhold.
As for Chopin, he once said that Berlioz didn't think while he was composing; he just dipped a (feather) pen into an ink-pot and then shook it over the stave. Ink drops fell at random on the stave lines.
Enough gossip?
Best wishes,
Bernhard.
Topic: Did Berlioz bother to write any piano music?