"Béatrice et Bénédict Béatrice et Bénédict (""Beatrice and Benedick"") is an opéra comique in two acts by Hector Berlioz. Berlioz wrote the French libretto himself, based closely on Shakespeare's ""Much Ado About Nothing"". Berlioz had been interested in setting Shakespeare's comedy since his return from Italy in 1833, but only composed the score of ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" following the completion of ""Les Troyens"" in 1858. It was first performed at the opening of the Theater Baden-Baden on 9 August 1862. Berlioz conducted the first two performances of a German version in Weimar in 1863, where, as he wrote in his"
"Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (; ; 11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer. His output includes orchestral works such as the ""Symphonie fantastique"" and ""Harold in Italy"", choral pieces including the Requiem and ""L'enfance du Christ"", his three operas ""Benvenuto Cellini"", ""Les Troyens"" and ""Béatrice et Bénédict"", and works of hybrid genres such as the ""dramatic symphony"" ""Roméo et Juliette"" and the ""dramatic legend"" ""La damnation de Faust"". The elder son of a provincial doctor, Berlioz was expected to follow his father into medicine, and he attended a Parisian medical college before defying his family"
"Roméo et Juliette (Berlioz) Roméo et Juliette is a ""symphonie dramatique,"" a large-scale choral symphony by French composer Hector Berlioz, which was first performed on 24 November 1839. The libretto was written by Émile Deschamps, and the completed work was assigned the catalogue numbers Op. 17 and H. 79. It is based on Shakespeare's play ""Romeo and Juliet""; it is regarded as one of Berlioz's finest works, and it is among the most original in form. The score is Berlioz's most comprehensive and detailed programmatic piece. Initial inspiration came from a performance he witnessed in 1827 of ""Romeo and Juliet"""
"no longer the normal practice to present it across two evenings. ""Les Troyens"", in Holoman's view, embodies the composer's artistic creed: the union of music and poetry holds ""incomparably greater power than either art alone"". The last of Berlioz's operas is the Shakespearean comedy ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" (1862), written, the composer said, as a relaxation after his efforts with ""Les Troyens"". He described it as ""a caprice written with the point of a needle"". His libretto, based on ""Much Ado About Nothing"", omits Shakespeare's darker sub-plots and replaces the clowns Dogberry and Verges with an invention of his own, the"
"sometimes been judged unfavourably because of its perceived liberties with Shakespeare; however, Bellini and his librettist, Felice Romani, worked from Italian sources—principally Romani's libretto for ""Giulietta e Romeo"" by Nicola Vaccai—rather than directly adapting Shakespeare's play. Among later operas, there is Heinrich Sutermeister's 1940 work ""Romeo und Julia"". ""Roméo et Juliette"" by Berlioz is a ""symphonie dramatique"", a large-scale work in three parts for mixed voices, chorus, and orchestra, which premiered in 1839. Tchaikovsky's ""Romeo and Juliet"" Fantasy-Overture (1869, revised 1870 and 1880) is a 15-minute symphonic poem, containing the famous melody known as the ""love theme"". Tchaikovsky's device of"
"La damnation de Faust La damnation de Faust (English: ""The Damnation of Faust""), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a ""légende dramatique"" (dramatic legend). It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 6 December 1846. The French composer was inspired by a translation of Goethe's dramatic poem ""Faust"" and produced a musical work that, like the masterpiece on which it is based, defies easy categorisation. Conceived at various times as a free-form oratorio and as an opera (Berlioz"
"memoirs, he was ""overwhelmed by all sorts of kind attention."" It is the first notable version of Shakespeare's play in operatic form, and was followed by works by among others Árpád Doppler, Paul Puget and Reynaldo Hahn. Berlioz biographer David Cairns has written: ""Listening to the score's exuberant gaiety, only momentarily touched by sadness, one would never guess that its composer was in pain when he wrote it and impatient for death"". Berlioz described the premiere of ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" as a ""great success"" in a letter to his son Louis; he was particularly taken with the performance of Charton-Demeur"
"co-productions. At the beginning of the 1990s the theater was completely renovated and equipped with modern technology. The theater is one of the venues of the ""New Pop Festival"". The premises, especially the foyer, can be rented for weddings and other events. Theater Baden-Baden Theater Baden-Baden at Goetheplatz is the city theater of Baden-Baden in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. At the instigation of Edouard Bénazet, a former casino director, the theater was modeled on the Paris Opera by Charles Couteau. Especially for the opening in August 1862 Hector Berlioz composed the opera ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" after Shakespeare's ""Much Ado About Nothing"". In"
"changes from Shakespeare's play, both in the version Berlioz worked from, and subsequent cuts he and his librettist made. Berlioz's composition was heavily influenced by the play he had seen acted by Charles Kemble and Harriet Smithson in 1827, which had been rewritten by the 18th century actor David Garrick to have Juliet awaken from her deathlike sleep before Romeo's death from (a much slower acting) poison. Berlioz enlisted the services of author Emile Deschamps to write the libretto. Between them they also left out the character of the nurse and expanded Shakespeare's brief mention of the two families' reconciliation"
"he pursued her obsessively until she finally accepted him seven years later. Their marriage was happy at first but eventually foundered. Harriet inspired his first major success, the ""Symphonie fantastique"", in which an idealised depiction of her occurs throughout. Berlioz completed three operas, the first of which, ""Benvenuto Cellini"", was an outright failure. The second, the huge epic ""Les Troyens"" (The Trojans), was so large in scale that it was never staged in its entirety during his lifetime. His last opera, ""Béatrice et Bénédict""based on Shakespeare's comedy ""Much Ado About Nothing""was a success at its premiere but did not enter"
"Les Troyens Les Troyens (in English: ""The Trojans"") is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the "" Aeneid""; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. ""Les Troyens"" is Berlioz's most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career, but he did not live to see it performed in its entirety. Under the title ""Les Troyens à Carthage"", the last three acts were premièred with many cuts by Léon Carvalho's company, the Théâtre Lyrique, at their theatre (now the Théâtre de la Ville) on"
"another of Shakespeare's Roman plays, ""Antony and Cleopatra."" The main source of the play is Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's ""Lives"". Shakespeare deviated from these historical facts to curtail time and compress the facts so that the play could be staged more easily. The tragic force is condensed into a few scenes for heightened effect. ""Julius Caesar"" was originally published in the First Folio of 1623, but a performance was mentioned by Thomas Platter the Younger in his diary in September 1599. The play is not mentioned in the list of Shakespeare's plays published by Francis Meres in 1598. Based"
"Benvenuto Cellini (opera) Benvenuto Cellini is an opera semiseria in two acts with music by Hector Berlioz and libretto by Léon de Wailly and Henri Auguste Barbier. It was the first of Berlioz's operas, premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique (Salle Le Peletier) on 10 September 1838. The story is inspired by the memoirs of the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, although the elements of the plot are largely fictional. The opera is technically very challenging and rarely performed. However, the overture to the opera sometimes features in symphony orchestra programs, as does the concert overture ""Le carnaval romain"" which"
"Romeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky) Romeo and Juliet, TH 42, ČW 39, is an orchestral work composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is styled an ""Overture-Fantasy"", and is based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. Like other composers such as Berlioz and Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare and wrote works based on ""The Tempest"" and ""Hamlet"" as well. Unlike Tchaikovsky's other major compositions, ""Romeo and Juliet"" does not have an opus number. It has been given the alternative catalogue designations TH 42 and ČW 39. Although styled an 'Overture-Fantasy' by the composer, the overall design is a symphonic"
"L'enfance du Christ L'enfance du Christ (""The Childhood of Christ""), Opus 25, is an oratorio by the French composer Hector Berlioz, based on the Holy Family's flight into Egypt (see Gospel of Matthew 2:13). Berlioz wrote his own words for the piece. Most of it was composed in 1853 and 1854, but it also incorporates an earlier work ""La fuite en Egypte"" (1850). It was first performed at the Salle Herz, Paris on 10 December 1854, with Berlioz conducting and soloists from the Opéra-Comique: Jourdan (Récitant), Depassio (Hérode), the couple Meillet (Marie and Joseph) and Bataille (Le père de famille)."
"of love in this exchange: Gremio and Tranio literally bid for Bianca. As Baptista says, ""'Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both/That can assure my daughter greatest dower/Shall have my Bianca's love"" (2.1.344–346). The first opera based on the play was Ferdinando Bertoni's opera buffa ""Il duca di Atene"" (1780), with libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini. Frederic Reynolds' ""Catherine and Petruchio"" (1828) is an adaptation of Garrick, with an overture taken from Gioachino Rossini, songs derived from numerous Shakespeare plays and sonnets, and music by John Braham and Thomas Simpson Cooke. Starring Fanny Ayton and James William"
"the original than the words of my pale and garbled translation could do. The range of feeling and mood as well as poetic and formal invention which Berlioz found in Shakespeare had a strong influence on his music, making a direct musical setting of Shakespeare's work only natural. In fact, he had been planning a musical realisation of ""Romeo and Juliet"" for a long time before 1838, but other projects intervened. Emile Deschamps (the librettist of the work) says that he and Berlioz worked out a plan for the symphony shortly after the Odéon's 1827/28 season. Indeed, it may be"
"Maher as Don John, Spencer Treat Clark as Borachio, Riki Lindhome as Conrade, Ashley Johnson as Margaret, Tom Lenk as Verges, and Romy Rosemont as the sexton. In 2012 a filmed version of the live 2011 performance at The Globe was released to cinemas and on DVD. In 2012 a filmed version of the 2011 performance at Wyndham's Theatre was made available for download or streaming on the Digital Theatre website. In 2015, a modern movie version of this play was created by Owen Drake entitled ""Messina High"", starring Faye Reagan. The operas ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" (1862) by Hector Berlioz,"
"Shakespeare. In 1860, in conjunction with Dr. Jovan Andrejević-Joles (1833–1864), he set on foot an excellent translation of Shakespeare's ""King Richard III"", published in 1864. He himself was responsible for ""Romeo and Juliet"" and ""Hamlet"". The cultural ideals that motivated Kostić to render ""Romeo and Juliet"" into Serbian were part of the Serbian literary revival going back to Dositej Obradović in the eighteenth century. At the time theatre emerged as a by-product of the Serbian people's incessant striving for national independence in the last decades of the eighteenth century, the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 and then again in 1815,"
"with the execution of Christians by damnatio ad bestias. Julius Caesar (play) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar) is a history play and tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It is one of several plays written by Shakespeare based on true events from Roman history, which also include ""Coriolanus"" and ""Antony and Cleopatra"". Although the play is named ""Julius Caesar"", Brutus speaks more than four times as many lines as the title character; and the central psychological drama of the play focuses on Brutus' struggle between the conflicting"
"be redeveloped. Harriet Smithson Harriet Constance (1800–1854), most commonly known as Harriet Smithson, who also went by Henrietta Constance Smithson, Harriet Smithson Berlioz, and Miss H.C. Smithson, was a famous Shakespearean actress, best known as the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz. Harriet Smithson was born on March 18, 1800, at Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland. Her father, William Joseph Smithson, was an actor and theatrical manager from Gloucestershire, England, and her mother was an actress whose full name is unknown. She also had a brother, Joseph Smithson, and a sister, name also unknown. In October 1801, Harriet was left"
"escape the persecution of King Herod, which was first published in 1852. This became the core of the oratorio ""L'enfance du Christ"". ""Béatrice et Bénédict"". Overture to the opera of the same name, composed in 1862. ""Les Troyens à Carthage: Prologue"" (The Trojans at Carthage: Prologue) Berlioz's epic opera ""Les Troyens"" was never performed complete during his lifetime. In an attempt to have the opera staged by the Théâtre Lyrique in 1863, he split it into two parts, with acts 1 and 2 becoming ""La prise de Troie"" (""The Capture of Troy"") and acts 3–5 ""Les Troyens à Carthage"". Only"
"in correspondence, also paid close attention to its content. Based on ""Les Antiquitez de Rome"" (1558) by Joachim Du Bellay. ""Muiopotmos"" was dedicated to Elizabeth Spencer, Baroness Hunsdon. It is a tightly-structured poem in which the butterfly Clarion is killed by the spider Aragnoll. Some of the sonnets in this section, and the final ""Visions of Petrarch"", had earlier versions in ""A theatre wherein be represented as wel the miseries & calamities that follow the voluptuous worldlings"" (1569) translated by Spenser (and others) from the original by Jan van der Noot. This work, with the preceding one, is a rewriting"
"his Conservatoire professors, the directors of the Opéra and Opéra-Comique, and the composers Auber and Hérold, Berlioz's fascination with Shakespeare's plays prompted him to start learning English during 1828, so that he could read them in the original. At around the same time he encountered two further creative inspirations: Beethoven and Goethe. He heard Beethoven's third, fifth and seventh symphonies performed at the Conservatoire, and read Goethe's ""Faust"" in Gérard de Nerval's translation. Beethoven became both an ideal and an obstacle for Berlioz – an inspiring predecessor but a daunting one. Goethe's work was the basis of ""Huit scènes de"
"tiresome and pompous music master Somarone. The action focuses on the sparring between the two leading characters, but the score contains some gentler music, such as the nocturne-duet ""nuit paisible et sereine"", the beauty of which, Cairns suggests, matches or surpasses the love music in ""Roméo"" or ""Les Troyens"". Cairns writes that ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" ""has wit and grace and lightness of touch. It accepts life as it is. The opera is a divertissement, not a grand statement"". ""La damnation de Faust"", although not written for the theatre, is sometimes staged as an opera. Berlioz gained a reputation, only partly"
"Harriet Smithson Harriet Constance (1800–1854), most commonly known as Harriet Smithson, who also went by Henrietta Constance Smithson, Harriet Smithson Berlioz, and Miss H.C. Smithson, was a famous Shakespearean actress, best known as the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz. Harriet Smithson was born on March 18, 1800, at Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland. Her father, William Joseph Smithson, was an actor and theatrical manager from Gloucestershire, England, and her mother was an actress whose full name is unknown. She also had a brother, Joseph Smithson, and a sister, name also unknown. In October 1801, Harriet was left in the"
"Roman Tragedies Roman Tragedies (Dutch: ""Romeinse Tragedies"") is a 6-hour stage adaptation of William Shakespeare's plays ""Coriolanus"", ""Julius Caesar"", and ""Antony and Cleopatra"", created in 2007 by Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the theatre company of Amsterdam. As of November 2012, the company continues to perform it at venues across the world. Directed by Ivo van Hove, the production has been highly praised for its acting, its innovative set, and its use of multimedia. ""Roman Tragedies"" condenses three of Shakespeare's plays into a single 6-hour production. The actors speak Dutch; surtitles are used when touring the production. The surtitles do not present Shakespeare's"
"by Bob Ellis and Michael Boddy ) in 1970. The production featured Robyn Nevin and Kate Fitzpatrick. In 2009 Bell directed the opera ""Madama Butterfly"" for Oz Opera; this production toured throughout Australia. In 1990, Bell founded the theatre company Bell Shakespeare and has produced, among others, ""Hamlet"", ""Romeo and Juliet"", ""The Taming of the Shrew"", ""Richard III"", ""Pericles"", ""Henry IV"", ""Henry V"", ""Julius Caesar"", ""Antony and Cleopatra"", ""The Comedy of Errors"", ""The Merchant of Venice"", ""The Tempest"", ""King Lear"", and Goldoni's ""Servant of Two Masters"". His roles for the company include Shylock, Richard III, Macbeth, Malvolio, Coriolanus, Leontes, Prospero,"
"Roman plays ""Coriolanus"", ""Julius Caesar"", and ""Antony and Cleopatra"". Another tragedy ""King Lear"", is based on British legend, as is the romanc ""Cymbeline, King of Britain"", which is set in Ancient Britain. Other playwrights contemporary to Shakespeare, such as Christopher Marlowe, also dramatized historical topics. Marlowe wrote ""Edward the Second"" which deals with the deposition of King Edward II by his barons and the Queen, who resent the undue influence the king's favourites have in court and state affairs, and ""The Massacre at Paris"", which dramatizes the events of the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in France in 1572. Marlowe's ""Tamburlaine"
"to be the culmination of the French Classical tradition of Gluck and Spontini. Predictably, it failed to make the stage, at least in its complete, four-hour form. For that, it would have to wait until the second half of the twentieth century, fulfilling the composer's prophecy, ""If only I could live till I am a hundred and forty, my life would become decidedly interesting"". Berlioz's third and final opera, the Shakespearean comedy ""Béatrice et Bénédict"" (1862), was written for a theatre in Germany, where audiences were far more appreciative of his musical innovation. Berlioz was not the only one discontented"
"Margherita d'Anjou Margherita d'Anjou is an opera "" semiseria"" in two acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The Italian libretto was by Felice Romani after a text based on legends around the English Wars of the Roses by René Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt. The title role is the Queen Margaret of Shakespeare's Henry VI plays, who also appears in Richard III. ""Margherita d'Anjou"" is the first opera by Meyerbeer to mix historical events and personages with fictional characters and situations, as his French grand operas ""Les Huguenots"", ""Le prophète"" and ""L'Africaine"" were later to do. It is the fourth of Meyerbeer's Italian"
"The Merchant of Venice (opera) The Merchant of Venice is an opera by André Tchaikowsky (1935–1982) to a libretto, based on the Shakespeare play, by John O'Brien. Written between 1968 and 1982, it was first performed in 2013 at the Bregenz Festival. The British premiere was presented by the Welsh National Opera in September 2016. Tchaikowsky, who was based in England after the 1950s, was a great admirer of Shakespeare, and was able to recite large stretches of his works from memory. His compositions include settings of seven of Shakespeare's ""Sonnets"", songs from ""The Tempest"", and incidental music for ""Hamlet""."
"Berenice (play) Berenice () is a five-act tragedy by the French 17th-century playwright Jean Racine. ""Berenice"" was not played often between the 17th and the 20th centuries. Today it is one of Racine's more popular plays, after ""Phèdre"", ""Andromaque"" and ""Britannicus"". It was premiered on 21 November 1670 by the Comédiens du Roi at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. Racine seems to have chosen the subject in competition with Pierre Corneille, who was working on his drama ""Tite et Bérénice"" at the same time. The subject was taken from the Roman historian Suetonius, who recounts the story of the Roman emperor"