... will became flaccid, his faculties paralysed, he lost interest in everything except his vague dreams of Henrietta and Shakespeare. Berlioz made several desperate attempts to bring himself to her attention: he sent her numerous screeds, and their violence frightened her. In the spring of 1830, Berlioz wrote to a friend, "I was about to begin my symphony [Episode in the life of an Artist] in which the development of my passion will be depicted." The "Symphonie Fantastique [Épisode de la vie d'un artiste]" was first performed in the hall of the Paris Conservatoire on 5 December 1830, and the conductor was Berlioz's friend and champion, François Habeneck. This five-movement work, entirely original and daring in its concept and style, brings together a whirlpool of ideas both musical and literary (he had then discovered Goethe's Faust and Beethoven's Symphonies); culminating in a sonic experience that is nothing short of mind-blowing. ...

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