Profile Text
Birth Name: Louis-Hector Berlioz
Date of Birth: 11 December, 1803
Place of Birth: La Côte-Saint-André, département of Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Date of Death: 8 March, 1869
Place of Death: Rue de Calais, Paris, France
Ethnicity: French, as well as possibly some Alsatian German
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer and conductor. He is known for his three operas Benvenuto Cellini , Les Troyens , and Béatrice et Bénédict ; the Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy , which were of orchestral nature; Requiem / Grande Messe des morts and oratorio L’Enfance du Christ , which were choral; and hybrid musical compositions, “dramatic symphony” Roméo et Juliette and “dramatic legend” La Damnation de Faust . He wrote the technical study of Western musical instruments Treatise on Instrumentation .
He was the son of Marie Antoinette Josephine (Marmion) and Louis Joseph Berlioz, a physician, who was said to have been the first European to practise and write about acupuncture. His father was born in La Côte-Saint-André, Isere, Rhone-Alpes. His mother was born in Grenoble, Isère. Hector was married to Anglo-Irish Shakespearean actress and muse Harriet Smithson, until her death; and then to French opera singer/mezzo-soprano Marie Recio, also until her death. He had a son with Harriet.
Hector’s paternal grandfather was Louis Joseph Berlioz (the son of Joseph Berlioz and Catherine Vallet). Louis was born in La Côte-Saint-André, Isere, Rhone-Alpes. Hector’s great-grandfather Joseph was born in La Côte-Saint-André, the son of Francois Berlioz and Marie Marthe Massy Brun. Catherine was born in Grenoble, Isere, the daughter of Antoine Vallet and Marguerite Rousset/Rosset.
Hector’s paternal grandmother was named Espérance Robert. Espérance was born in La Côte-Saint-André, Isere, Rhone-Alpes.
Hector’s maternal grandfather was named Nicolas Marmion. Nicolas was born in Grenoble, Isere, Rhone-Alpes.
Hector’s maternal grandmother was Victorine Therese Elisabeth Desroches de Lisle (who was evidently the daughter of Christian Frédéric Dagobert Waldner Ludwig Dagobert de Freundstein and Marie Helene Françoise Munck). Victorine was born in Grenoble, Isere, Rhone-Alpes. Christian was born in Ribeauvillé, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, and was of Alsatian German descent; the son of Baron Friedrich Ludwig Wolfgang Waldner von Freundstein II and Franziska Salome Waldner Wurmser von Vendenheim.
Sources: Genealogies of Hector Berlioz – https://www.geni.com https://www.wikitree.com https://www.findagrave.com