ABSTRACT
Berlioz began drafting the libretto of Les Troyens in April 1856 after many months of intensifying interest in the subject. The idea of an opera about the Trojan War and its aftermath can be traced back to his father’s readings of Virgil when the composer was a boy, and from about 1850 there is an increasing stream of hints and mentions that betray the direction of his thoughts. During the silent years 1850-53, when composition played almost no part in his life, Berlioz was nonetheless pondering the huge opera, which was begun in 1856 and completed in April 1858, just two years after the real work began.
