Berlioz the composer was also a writer and critic. His 'Memoirs' and 'Evenings with the Orchestra' are well-known and well-loved. This book offers a selection of his day-to-day criticism in English, taking him from his student days as a participant in musical polemics over Rossini to his first years of mature success. Through Berlioz's eyes we follow musical events during one of the richest periods in French cultural history - the decade surrounding the Revolution of 1830.