"Music is the drug I can't live without. It's my addiction."

 - Ozzy Osbourne

Did you know? Many romantic composers back then were addicted to not only music, but to drugs as well! As we get this book started, let me tell you about the romantic program composer, Hector Berlioz, and how his impassionate feelings and addiction of opium brought him to his most famous composition, the "Symphonie Fantastique"

One day, Berlioz attended a performance at one of the theatres in Paris. Around the same time, Harriet, a charismatic actress, was playing as one of the characters for the performance. Berlioz was smitten as he saw her on stage and wrote her an impassioned letter, but Harriet did not reply. Berlioz continued to bombard her with messages but she left Paris without any contact. Around the same time, Berlioz had a great opium addiction, causing him to feel obsessive love and depression. Berlioz wrote to a fellow friend of his “You don’t know what love is, whatever you may say. For you, it’s not that rage, that fury, that delirium which takes possession of all one’s faculties, which renders one capable of anything.”

My lady, you look exquisitely divine tonight!

Berlioz had to find a way to outlet his obsessive love and impassionate emotions – a music composition. He innovated the idea of a “fantastic symphony” portraying an episode in the life of an artist who is constantly haunted by the vision of the perfect, unattainable woman. He also wanted to use this composition as a self portrayal of him, and to get the attention of Harriet. And there, his composition "Symphonie Fantastique" was created. The composition had five movements, the fourth movement casts as what Berlioz explained “Convinced that his love is spurned, the artist poisons himself with opium." And as Berlioz suffered from an opium addiction, he wanted to show how a strong depressant drug can affect you when you intake it in your system. “The dose of narcotic plunges him into a heavy sleep. He dreams that he has killed his beloved, that he is condemned, led to the scaffold and is witnessing his own execution," explained Berlioz. 

When Harriet hears word that she might be the inspiration for the famous composition, she was intrigued and agreed to meet Berlioz. She was then blown away by the force of his impassioned feelings and emotions. Harriet and Berlioz ended up getting married. But was it a happily ever after ending? Unfortunately, the obsession faded and they divorced after seven years. 

Aww! What an egregious romantic story of Berlioz and his ex-wife Harriet. Now, do you remember what I said earlier in the story? I recall there was a part about the effects of using opium as a depressant drug and how Berlioz shows it in his composition by going through heavy sleep and horrific nightmares; That is one of the effects when taking drugs, but what is drugs anyways? 

What is Drugs?

Drugs are substances that change a person’s mental or physical state. They can affect the way your brain works, how you feel and behave, your understanding and your senses. Some drugs makes people unpredictable and sometimes dangerous, especially when they intake illegal drugs or not medically prescribed drugs such as gateway drugs, CNSD (central nervous system depressant) drugs, hallucinogens, herbal drugs, etc.