Like Jean Sibelius, Hector Berlioz's father was a medical doctor. Hector was born in southern France, where he started studying music mainly from books. He played guitar and flute and started composing when he was 12 at school in Grenoble. At 17, he went to Paris ostensibly to study medicine. He graduated in four years but never practiced as, by then, he was committed to music and to falling in love with women who seldom reciprocated.

The opera Béatrice et Bénédict is based on the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. The composer wrote his own libretto. Though performed infrequently nowadays, the opera is full of joie de vivre despite Berlioz's many personal problems, including his wife's recent death and his own failing health. Tonight we will hear the overture to this opera.

Program note by A. Ian Fraser