Donald Macleod explores the life and work of the quintessential romantic, Hector Berlioz. A friend of Berlioz remarked that "there has probably never been a famous composer whose childhood was wasted in circumstances less favourable to musical development." Berlioz grew up without any significant musical stimulus in his childhood. His father directed him towards a medical career, and it was only after two years of studying medicine in Paris that Berlioz followed his own desires and, without his parents' moral support, proceeded confidently on his course, which was to be far from easy over the next five years, studying at the Paris Conservatoire. Show less