Although he wrote a Requiem Mass, Te Deum, and other spiritual compositions, the French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz has regularly received brickbats from Catholic listeners. In The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), the Dutch-American organist and choirmaster Joseph Otten decried the Berlioz Requiem as a “sacred work, but it does not express any deep personal faith from Berlioz himself… While it strikes terror into the heart of the hearer, it does not inspire devotion.” Otten also deemed the Berlioz Te Deum more “notable for its pomp and splendour than for its prayerfulness”.
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‘Mystic passionate emotion’: Hector Berlioz’s uncompromising Catholic vision
although he wrote a requiem mass, te deum , and other spiritual compositions, the french romantic composer hector berlioz has regularly rece...
Benjamin Ivry
7 min read
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