Contemporary music V: Berlioz.

Writing in 1893, Adolphe Jullien described an article by Fétis in the Revue musicale of 15 December 1832: This study thus contains, conveniently grouped, all the arguments (among which some are pretty specious) which could be presented to the public to discredit the author of the Fantastique; in taking them up and sharpening them, the master's enemies managed to forge well-tempered arms which they could make use of for thirty, forty, fifty years without their becoming blunt. It is they who harassed Berlioz, who crippled him with stinging wounds; it was Fétis who armed them. The symmetrical relationship of this opinion to that of Servières on Wagner is apparent. However, Berlioz's fate in the Gazette could hardly have differed more; explaining the unparalleled complexity of his reception produces a micro-history of the entire journal. The reception of Berlioz in the Gazette is exceptional. As a contributor (and as director during Schlesinger's absence), in the 1830s he had enormous power over the Gazette's message; despite the fact that he did not publish exclusively with Schlesinger, as a composer he could, in the years up to 1846, depend upon constructive reviews from colleagues of whom many were personal friends. Alongside Beethoven, he was, from the outset, presented as the Gazette's finest composer – the embodiment of the genius as presented in Schlesinger's contes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]