berlioz

Music by Mozart and Berlioz is not normally played on the serpent or ophicleide.

But still we know that composers like Chopin and Berlioz were Opium users.

The composer Berlioz used a lot of opium remedies for tooth pain, for example, and much of his music is influenced by musical hallucinations while on opiates.

He measured Berlioz with his gaze, as if he were sewing him a suit, and mumbled through his teeth, something like: 'One, two...

- inquired Berlioz with the most natural irony, he had clearly been drawn into some kind of absurd conversation, - and can tell me?

Program music like Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique is called program music after all because Berlioz himself handed out a program, notes, explaining (in words) what was going on in the symphony (the artiste falls in love unhappily and poisons himself with opium and has nightmares).

Sir Colin Davis was a better Berlioz interpreter than any French conductor I ever heard (and I was born 50km from la Cote St Andre), and even traditional Haute Cuisine is better abroad (particularly in Tokyo - see Apicius).

'What an idiotic way of putting it...” thought Berlioz, and objected: - Certainly, that is an exaggeration.

Berlioz -- "At least I have the modesty to admit that lack of modesty is one of my failings." Delusion is one of those things, especially with really smart people, that's easy to assume and hard to prove.

E.g., if an action filmscore has Berlioz-style brass and a big field drum, everyone is instantly on board.

Berlioz reported that the result was a triumph, although it was conducted by habeneck, who was his deadly enemy.

See for instance, Dali's or Berlioz' books; or simply talk about music or painting with a musician, or a painter.