For 23-year-old music student Hector Berlioz, the answer was clear. From the moment he saw Irish actress Harriet Smithson performing the role of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he knew he had to do something spectacular to pique her romantic interests. This was no ordinary crush. It was complete and utter infatuation.
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No scandal is more notorious than the riot that erupted at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on 29 May 1913. Or so every classical music novice is told.
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