L'Enfance du Christ

L'enfance du Christ (English: The Childhood of Christ), Opus 25, is a choral work by the French composer Hector Berlioz, based on the story of the Holy Family's flight into Egypt. Berlioz wrote his own words for the piece. Most of it was composed in 1853 and 1854 (...)

Berlioz described L'enfance as a Trilogie sacrée (sacred trilogy). The first of its three sections depicts King Herod ordering the massacre of all newborn children in Judaea; the second shows the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus setting out for Egypt to avoid the slaughter, having been warned by angels; and the final section portrays their arrival in the Egyptian town of Sais where they are given refuge by a family of Ishmaelites. (...)

The idea for L'enfance du Christ went back to 1850 when Berlioz composed an organ piece for his friend Joseph-Louis Duc, called L'adieu des bergers (The Shepherds' Farewell). He soon turned it into a choral movement for the shepherds saying goodbye to the baby Jesus as he leaves Bethlehem for Egypt. Berlioz had the chorus performed as a hoax on 12 November 1850, passing it off as the work of an imaginary 17th-century composer "Ducré". He was gratified to discover many people who hated his music were taken in and praised it, one lady even going so far as to say, "Berlioz would never be able to write a tune as simple and charming as this little piece by old Ducré".


In the end, Berlioz proved that recognition comes to those who don't care what people think. His operas today are performed all over the world, especially Les Troyens (The Trojans), a five-hour epic based on Virgil's Aeneid. He also composed settings for Romeo and Juliet and the Damnation of Faust, and the extremely popular Symphonie Fantastique. He was a master orchestrator. Everybody knows his arrangement of the Marseillaise. Those interested can read more about this extravagantly romantic personality here.

The photo of Berlioz (above) by Nadar is from 1857.

The splendid 12th-century depiction (top) of the flight into Egypt comes from the Cathedral of St. Lazarus in Autun (Burgundy). The artist was Gislebertus.

Sometime in the 1960's the great French conductor Charles Munch, who was music director of the Boston Symphony, recorded L'enfance du Christ. The best-known piece from the work is the gentle Shepherd's Farewell, discussed above. I do not have any other specifics about the video below. Like so many music videos, the sound is too soft. Maybe you can increase the volume if you have separate speakers: