The quintessential Romantic artist of his century, Hector Berlioz impressed Paganini and Liszt as "Beethoven's only heir" and dazzled the young Wagner as a composer, orchestra conductor, and critic. To Paris and all Europe, Berlioz was known as much for his writings as for his music, yet there has been no English-language anthology of his criticism available until now.

Berlioz on Music plunges us into the Parisian music world during one of its most vibrant periods, the revolutionary years surrounding 1830, still resonant with memories of Napoleon and the French Revolution of only...