First came the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, then the singer Marie Recio, and in his final years, he communicated with Estelle Fournier, a woman he had been infatuated with when they were both children. His experience of the artistic politics of the Paris music scene, the itinerant life of the guest conductor and the upheavals in the world around him called out to be told - and fortunately, his masterly use of the written word enabled him to do so with an irresistible combination of exuberance, humour, and indignation. His was a passionate life driven by love: of music, but also of three women in particular.
Requiring large numbers of performers, his works were expensive to perform and he was condemned (as he saw it) to earn extra money from writing - at which he also excelled. Unhappy with the quality of performance of his works, he took up the baton himself and became a great conductor, celebrated across Europe and in Russia. His first major work, the semi-autobiographical Symphonie Fantastique, revolutionised the sound of the orchestra and its use in storytelling. Intended for medicine, he turned instead to music and became one of its most original composers. Hector Berlioz was one of the most significant artistic figures of the 19th century.
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