When musicians talk about a composer’s autograph, we don’t only mean a signature, but rather the original score written in the composer’s own hand: “auto” meaning self, and “graph” meaning written. This is distinct from a manuscript copy, which is handwritten by someone other than the composer.
Hector Berlioz had one of the most beautiful scripts I’ve seen among 19th-century composers, and I’ve spent a lot of time with 19c autographs. When I reconstructed Franco Faccio’s Amleto, I spent months deciphering his handwriting, sometimes unable to make out even the five lines of the musical staff. Looking at Berlioz’s beautiful pages, I can’t help feeling a little envious.
The first page of his autograph of L’enfance du Christ (photo) demonstrates just how legible and careful his penstrokes were. There is a warmth in the cursive lettering and carefully formed noteheads that is absent in the more mechanical published score.
For someone with Berlioz’s voluminous output in both writing and composing, it is impressive that he maintained this beautiful penmanship throughout his life, making his autograph scores among the most immediately recognizable in music.
OSW presents the Symphonic Chorus in Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ November 15, 2026 at 2pm
