Béatrice et Bénédict (Beatrice and Benedict) is a comic opera in two acts by Hector Berlioz. The French libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based loosely on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. It was first performed at the Theater der Stadt, Baden-Baden on August 9, 1862.
Berlioz completed the score to the work between the completion and production of his magnum opus, the monumental opera Les Troyens. Shortly after its successful premiere ...
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Béatrice et Bénédict (Beatrice and Benedict) is a comic opera in two acts by Hector Berlioz. The French libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based loosely on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. It was first performed at the Theater der Stadt, Baden-Baden on August 9, 1862.
Berlioz completed the score to the work between the completion and production of his magnum opus, the monumental opera Les Troyens. Shortly after its successful premiere in Baden, Berlioz conducted the first two performances of a German version in Weimar, where he was "overwhelmed by all sorts of kind attention," as he recorded in his memoirs.
Béatrice et Bénédict is rather infrequently performed and never became part of the standard operatic repertoire. There are several recordings of the opera, including a recommended one from 1981 conducted by Daniel Barenboim with Yvonne Minton, Plácido Domingo, Ileana Cotrubaş, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the cast. The overture is frequently heard on the symphonic...
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