Full of insight, full of fun

In 1969, the hundredth anniversary of Hector Berlioz’s death, the Association nationale Hector Berlioz began sponsoring a critical edition of the composer’s writings. The first part of the project finished in 2003 with the publication of the eighth volume of Berlioz’s letters, edited by the late Pierre Citron (a ninth appeared in 2016 after his death). Citron also edited and annotated Berlioz’s Mémoires, surely one of the most amusing autobiographies ever written. Also from the late 1960s, Les Soirées de l’orchestre, Les Grotesques de la musique, and the punning À travers chants, books containing Berlioz’s adaptations of his music criticism, made their way into print. The critique musicale, however, was an even bigger task. Six volumes...