What is Hector Berlioz?
[[File:Legros - Berlioz (dessin).jpg|thumb|Berlioz, by Alphonse Legros]] '''Louis-Hector Berlioz''' (11 December 1803&nbsp;– 8 March 1869) was a [[French people|French]] [[composer]] and [[music critic]]. He was one of the greatest composers of the [[19th century]]. His music is typical of the [[Romantic music|Romantic]] period: full of passion and often based on ideas outside music. He was not particularly good at playing any [[musical instrument|instrument]], but he was brilliant at writing for the [[orchestra]]. Some of his most famous works include several orchestral [[overture]]s, the ''[[Symphonie Fantastique]]'', the opera ''Les Troyens'' (''The Trojans''), the [[requiem]] ''Grande messe des morts'' and the [[song cycle]] ''[[Les nuits d'été]]'' (Summer Nights). He was very original as a composer, and his music was not fully appreciated until many years after his death. == Life == === Childhood and student days === Berlioz was the eldest of six children. His two sisters lived to be adults, and Berlioz was always very fond of them both. His father was a [[Medical doctor|doctor]]. The family lived in the country, north west of [[Grenoble]]. Berlioz only went to school for a short time, when he was ten years old. The rest of his [[education]] he had from his father. He liked [[French literature|French]] and [[Latin]] [[literature]] and travel books about faraway countries. He learned to play the [[flute]], the [[flageolet]] and the [[guitar]]. He read a book by [[Rameau]] about [[harmony]]. He never had a [[piano]]. He just imagined the sounds of [[chord]]s in his head. He was only 12 when he fell in love with a girl called Estelle who was 18. He was teased about it a lot. He started to compose some music. When he was 17 his father said that he wanted him to be a [[Medical doctor|doctor]]. Berlioz wanted to study music, but his father made him go to [[Paris]] to study [[medicine]]. Berlioz was to stay in Paris for the rest of his life. He studied medicine for two years, but he hated it. One day, in an [[a