Hector Berlioz
(1803-1869)

French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz was an habitual opium user. He is most famous for his orchestral work Symphonie fantastique. Symphonie fantastique is an "opera without words". It was first performed in 1830. Each movement is designed to evoke the different stages of the opium experience. A sublimation of his own unrequited love for actress Harriet Smithson, Berlioz's masterpiece is about a tormented lovesick artist who takes an overdose of opium. Instead of killing him, the opium induces astonishing dream imagery.


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