He also invented other teleplmnic' devices and the musical meeliauisni known as the gramophone.
BERLIN PHIL'HARMON'IC. See PhiliiARMO.MC Societies.
BERLIN SPIR'IT. A coarse wliisky made
chiefly from hcet-root, potatoes, etc. Because of
its cheapness it is sometimes used in the making
of hrandy, but is considered very unwliolesome.
See DisTiLL.TiON ; and Distilled Liquors.
BERLIOZ, bfir'le-fis', Hector (1803-69). A
French composer. He was born at La COte-
Saint-Andrc, December 11, 1S03. His father, a
physician, sent him to Paris to study medicine;
but he entered the Conservatoire, which he soon
left, finding the teaching too pedantic. He gave
himself up heart and .soul to the romantic niove-
nicnt, and became the champion of 'programme
music' — which endeavors to tell a story in music.
Of his earlier attempts in this line, the Sympho-
nic faiitaslique, episode de la vie d'un artiste
(1828), a page of musical autobiography, is the
most remarkable. Coveting the Prix de Rome, he
resumed study in the Conservatoire under Le-
sueur (q.v. ), and gained the prize with the can-
tata Sardaiiapale (1830). Life in Italy fur-
nished inspiration for a new unfolding of his
gifts, and he wrote the overture to King Lear.
He now took up journalistic work in the Corre-
spondant, then in the Courrier de I'Europe, in the
Rcrtie Europeenxc. and finally in the Gazette
mtisicale de Paris and the Journal des Di^bats.
His brilliant and powerful style, iconoclastic ten-
dencies, and unswerving honesty and candor,
made him the principal figure in French musical
life. Though made conservator in 1839, and
librarian in 1852, he never became professor at
the Conservatory. His sTOiphony, Harold en
Italic (1834), h'is If esse dcs marts (1837), his
Carnaral romain (overture), and the dramatic
symphony, Romeo et Juliette (1839), all elicited
high praise from the critics; but his first opera
in two acts, licnrenuto Cellini (1838), was a fail-
ure. Early in the forties, encouraged by Liszt's
jiropagation of his music, Berlioz undertook a
tour of Germany, which was so successful that
for some ten years he traveled through Austria,
Hungary. Bohemia, Russia, and England, every-
where meeting with enthusiastic receptions. In
Hungary, the "Rakoczy March." from his Dam-
nation de Faust (1846), is said to have aroused
the people to a patriotic frenzy. In London
he conducted the New Philharmonic Concerts,
and in 1853 his own Beni?cnuto Cellini at Cov-
ent Garden. He was elected to the Academy
in 18.56. His masterpiece, Les Troyens, consist-
ing of La Prise de Troie (three acts) and Les
Troyens a Carthage (five acts), proved a fail-
ure (Paris, 1863), which broke down the com-
poser, and he- was feeble throughout the rest of
his life. In ISDO Les Troyens was produced in
Karlsruhe, in 1899 in Moscow, and in 1900 in
Paris, with signal success. His writings on mu-
sical matters and the art of music are among the
most treasured works in this line. His Traite
d'instrumentation was the theoretical exposition
of his views on instrumentation, which he ap-
plied in practice, and until the last years of
the century was the best work of its kind. In
France he was appreciated more fully for his
literary compositions, which moulded musical
tastes and created a field for the great masters
of music. Only after his death his compatriots
came to lliink that he had not received his
due honor, and tlu'v tried to make amends, which
brought ujion them the accusation of desiring
to form a Bi^rlioz cult. Berlioz lacked one essen-
tial — melodic invention — and all his ingenuity
and art could not conceal the poverty of his
musical ideas. But he was a great master in
all else. His grandiose fancy conceived images
tliat are often sublime. He possessed an accu-
rate knowledge of the possibilities of every in-
strument, which enabled him to produce new and
wonderful combinations, enchanting, dazzling,
weird, bizarre, or elf-like (as e.g. the "Queen Mab
Scherzo" in Romeo ct •Juliette, or in the Danse
des Sylphcs), and he is now the acknowledged
father of modern orchestration. Without Ber-
lioz, Wagner would have been an impossibility,
although Berlioz turned away from Wagner. He
died in Paris, Jlarch 8, 1869. His collected writ-
ings appeared in (ierman translation, liy R. Pohl,
in 4 vols. (186t). Consult: .Julien, H. Berlioz
(Paris, 1888), very good; Hippeau, Berlioz,
riiomme et I'artiste (Paris, 1883-85) and Berlioz
ct son temps (Paris, 1892); Pohl, B. Berlioz:
Studien und Erinnerwiigen (Leipzig, 1884) ; and
the autobiography, J/ f'fHoires (Paris, 1870; Eng-
lish translation, Rachel and Eleanor Holmes,
London, 1884).
BERM, berm (Fr. hemic, probably of Ger-
manic origin: cf. Gcr. Brume, border, Engl.
brim). In fortification, a ledge or pathway con-
structed at the bottom of the exterior of the out-
work or lamjiart, where it joins the scarp or
inner aide of the ditch. It is from 3 to 8 feet in
width, and is almost on a level with the natural
surface of the ground. Besides serving as a
passageway for troops manning the defenses, it
serves in part to prevent the filling up of the
ditch with earth and debri.s, when the rampart is
batt<>red l)y the besiegers. See Fortification.
BERMEJO, bfu-ma'Hi',. A river of South
America which ri.ses in the south of Bolivia and
flows through Argentina toward the Paragua5%
which it joins a short distance above its junc-
tion with the Parana (Jlap: Argentina, E 9).
Its total length, including windings, is nearly
1300 miles, and it is navigable in its middle
course for over half this distance for small
steamers at all seasons, and for heavier craft
for only about six months of the year. Since the
middle of the last century the waters of the Ber-
mejo have in their middle course mainly flowed
through the parallel channel — the Rio Tenco —
al'iout 10 miles south of the old channel.
BERMONDSEY, ber'mond-zi (AS. Beor-
mond^ig. Bcormond's island). A district of
Greater London.
BERMONDSEY SPA (spii) GAR'DENS.
A fashionable resort near London in Gieorge II. 's
reign. The whole district is now crowded with
the poor, chiefly tanners.
BERMU'DA (named after their discoverer), or SOMERS (sQm'erz) ISLANDS. A group of small islands and reefs in the Atlantic belonging to Great Britain, and situated in latitude 32° 14' N. and longitude 64° 40' W., about 750 miles southeast of New York, and about 600 miles east-southeast of Cape Hattcras, North Carolina (Map: America, North, M 6). It lies on the route from Europe to the West Indies, and derives additional importance from its position midway between the West Indies and the British
