A splendid-looking, meticulously edited and presented book, with a characteristically stylish introduction by Peter Bloom. -- Kerry Murphy * MUSIC AND LETTERS *
A diverse collection of twelve essays by outstanding Berlioz scholars. . . . The range of topics covered could scarcely be wider. . . . Barzun examines . . . music's ability to express -- and arouse -- emotions. . . . Gérard Condé's excellently written essay 'Berlioz as Composer-Critic' shows the great value of Berlioz's journalism. . . . Hugh Macdonald convincingly speculates that much of Berlioz's initial excitement with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet . . . became absorbed into the Fantastic Symphony. . . . David Cairns adds wisdom and discernment. . . Readers with a special passion for Berlioz will derive great enjoyment from this admirably produced collection. -- Philip Borg-Wheeler * CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE *
[This volume was produced] under the distinguished editorship of Peter Bloom. . . . Highly explorative articles on the dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette form the core of the volume. Hugh Macdonald argues speculatively and most persuasively for the existence of a lost or destroyed early work on that same Shakespearean subject. . . . His inspired speculations add further fascinating resonances to these achieved masterworks [Roméo and the Symphonie fantastique]. -- Andrew Thomson * MUSICAL TIMES *
Keen, provocative, and methodologically innovative work....[Hugh Macdonald offers] a model for more sophisticated textual analysis of the Fantastique....The essays touching on questions of autobiography...present a wealth of new facts about Berlioz and a series of new ways of 'reading' his life...The [book's] individual contributions...coalesc[e] into a remarkably cogent whole. -- Francesca Brittan * MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTES *
Each of the twelve essays gives the reader informative and intelligent insight into Berlioz, and each is very much worth reading. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty and professionals. -- James McCalla * CHOICE *
A valuable addition to Berlioz scholarship. * AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE *
For all lovers of Berlioz, a splendid book from the leading experts on his life and music: detailed analysis of the music, large scraps of small histories, and an essay from Jacques Barzun on the possibility of the meaning of music. -- Go out and buy it! --Sir Colin Davis

PETER BLOOM is the Grace Jarcho Ross Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Smith College. HUGH MACDONALD was the Avis Blewett Professor of Music, Washington University, St Louis from 1987 to 2011. He is the author of many important books, including Beethoven's Century: Essays on Composers and Themes (URP, 2008), Music in 1853: the Biography of a Year (Boydell Press, 2012), and Saint-Saëns and the Stage (CUP, 2019). JULIAN RUSHTON is Emeritus Professor of Music, University of Leeds, UK. PETER BLOOM is the Grace Jarcho Ross Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Smith College.