although a few people thought that berlioz was an original composer, many others thought his music was very strange. he hardly earned any money from composing. most of the money he earned came from musical journalism, which is something he hated. when his works were performed, he usually conducted them himself. he wrote a work for viola and orchestra called "harold en italie". paganini had asked him to write it for him to play, but when paganini saw the music he did not like it because it was not “showy” enough for the viola. some years later paganini heard the work and decided he liked it, so he paid berlioz 20.000 francs. this was a lot of money, and it made it possible for berlioz to spend time writing a big new work: "roméo et juliette". when this was first performed some critics thought that berlioz did not understand shakespeare probably. however, richard wagner, who was in the audience at the first performance, was very impressed. berlioz tried to be successful as an opera composer, but people did not understand his original music. he wrote a "grand symphonie funèbre et triomphale", originally written for a military band. "les nuits d'été" is a very moving song-cycle.