Les francs-juges (The Free Judges) Overture, Op. 3 – Hector Berlioz

Les francs-juges (The Free Judges) Overture, Op. 3 by Hector Berlioz

In 1823, 20-year-old Hector Berlioz met a young man called Jean Humbert Ferrand at a weekly reunion for the Dauphinois of Paris (a centre for higher education). Ferrand was studying Law at the time, and the two men immediately became friends. This friendship would last until Humbert’s death in 1868, only one year before Berlioz died from what is suspected to be a stroke in 1869.

Berlioz had yet to compose an opera by 1825, and must have spoken of his eagerness to do so with Ferrand. The lawyer would provide Berlioz with a three-act libretto to which Berlioz began composing the score. The name of the opera was to be ‘Les francs-juges (The Free Judges) and was based on the activities of the ‘Vehmic courts’ of North Western Germany in the late middle ages.

Berlioz planned for the opera to be performed at the Odéon theatre in Paris, and had completed the composition in September of 1826. Unfortunately, the Odéon was not able to secure a license to perform new French operas and ‘Les francs-juges’ was never performed in France. Berlioz attempted to secure a performance venue in other parts in France and even one in Germany, but never succeeding in having the work performed. The disheartened Berlioz destroyed the score, and only retained the overture and some of the orchestral sections.

This work is comprised of a single movement.