The Editors: David Charlton is Professor of Music History at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a member of the Editorial Board of the New Berlioz Edition.
Katharine Ellis is Professor of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Director of the University of London's Institute of Musical Research.

Contents: Christina Bashford: More than Dedication? Hector Berlioz and John Ella - George Biddlecombe: Berlioz and the London Musical Scene - Gabriella Dideriksen: Benvenuto Cellini and the Politics of Opera Production in Mid-Victorian London - Sarah Hibberd: Berlioz's Waterloo? Benvenuto Cellini in London - Mark A. Pottinger: The Breslau Concert Tour of 1846: Provincial German Insights into Berlioz's Music and Aesthetic - Linda Edmondson: Berlioz and Cultural Politics in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Russia - Elena Dolenko: Hector Berlioz as Reflected in the Russian Press of his Time - Ian Rumbold: Berlioz and Le Freyschütz - Michael Fend: The Diabolical in Berlioz's La damnation de Faust - Vera Micznik: The Musico-Dramatic Narrative of Berlioz's Lélio - Peter Raby: Shakespeare in Paris, 1827 - Rainer Schmusch: Shakespeare and the Genesis of Programme Music: the Mottoes of Berlioz's Huit scènes de Faust - Katherine Kolb: Berlioz's Othello .

This collection of essays has been written by thirteen scholars, from five countries. It focuses on the musical activities of Hector Berlioz, viewed as a European phenomenon. The first part of the book discusses Berlioz's journeys to Breslau (1846), to Moscow and St Petersburg (1847 and 1867-68), and to London (especially in 1847 and 1853). In particular, the reception of Berlioz's music is placed under scrutiny. The second part of the book starts with a new history of the recitatives that Berlioz wrote for Weber's Der Freischütz , as they were used in Paris (1841, 1850), Berlin (1849), London (1850) and Milan (1872). Five essays then discuss different kinds of influence wrought by European literature on Berlioz, including Shakespeare's Othello and Goethe's Faust . The book's final section (source materials) contains the first complete anthology of London press reviews of Benvenuto Cellini in 1853; and new translations of three Russian articles on Berlioz by Vladimir Odoyevsky, from 1841 and 1847.