The composer Hector Berlioz was a prolific writer who supported himself early in his career by writing musical criticism using a bold, vigorous style, at times imperious and sarcastic.
[8] Berlioz' devotion to journalistic integrity and even-handedness is exemplified in that, while the Gazette criticized Henri Herz for his seemingly endless stream of variations on opera themes, it also positively reviewed his music on occasion.
[6] Les soirées de l’orchestre (Evenings with the Orchestra) (1852), a scathing satire[14] of provincial musical life in 19th century France, and the Treatise on Instrumentation, a pedagogic work, were both serialised originally in the Gazette musicale.
W. H. Auden praises it, saying "To succeed in [writing these tales], as Berlioz most brilliantly does, requires a combination of qualities which is very rare, the many-faceted curiosity of the dramatist with the aggressively personal vision of the lyric poet.
"[16] The work was closely studied by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss and served as the foundation for a subsequent textbook by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who, as a music student, attended the concerts Berlioz conducted in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.