''Tristia'', Op. 18, is a musical work consisting of three short pieces for chorus and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

by the French composer

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

. Apart from its title, it has nothing to do with the collection of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

poems by

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

(the word ''tristia'' in

means 'sad things'). The individual works were composed at different times and published together in 1852. Berlioz associated them in his mind with Shakespeare's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'', one of his favourite plays. They were never performed during the composer's lifetime.

Details of the work

The three movements are:

References

* David Cairns: ''Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness'' (the second volume of his biography of the composer) (Viking, 1999) * Hugh Macdonald: ''Berlioz'' ("The Master Musicians", J.M.Dent, 1982) * Berlioz: ''Memoirs'' (Dover, 1960)

External links

Information on the Funeral March

{{Authority control Choral compositions by Hector Berlioz 1852 compositions Music based on Hamlet