"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"
"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"
"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"""
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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)."
"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"
"art of Shakespeare and intensity by a highly charged occasion and performance."" His obsession prompted him to compose the ""Symphonie Fantastique,"" which is known as the first great romantic symphony. Berlioz discovered Smithson at the Odéon Theatre performing the roles of Juliet Capulet and Ophelia and immediately fell in love with her. He persistently sent her letters despite never having met her. For a brief period, he lived in an apartment whence he could see her return home and watch her until she went to sleep. She ignored all of his advances until 1832, when she was invited to a"
"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"
"original. The theme of the work is the progress of love, from youthful innocence to loss and finally renewal. Berlioz and the poet Théophile Gautier were neighbours and friends. Gautier wrote, ""Berlioz represents the romantic musical idea ... unexpected effects in sound, tumultuous and Shakespearean depth of passion."" It is possible that Berlioz read Gautier's collection ""La comédie de la mort"" (The Comedy of Death) before its publication in 1838. Gautier had no objection to his friend's setting six poems from that volume, and Berlioz began in March 1840. The title ""Nuits d'été"" was Berlioz's invention, and it is not"
"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 1869 Jacques Offenbach conducted the premiere of his operetta ""La princesse de Trébizonde"". Since 1918 the theater has had an ensemble of permanently employed actors. Opera and other works of the musical theater are also performed as part of guest performances and"
"Berenice (opera) Berenice (HWV 38) is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel to a 1709 Antonio Salvi libretto, ""Berenice, regina d’Egitto"", or ""Berenice, Queen of Egypt"". Handel began the music in December 1736; the premiere took place at Covent Garden Theatre in London on 18 May 1737 — but was unsuccessful, with just three further performances. Set circa 81 B.C., ""Berenice"" traces the life of Cleopatra, who was Berenice III of Egypt and daughter of Ptolemy IX, the main character in another Handel opera, ""Tolomeo"". The German-born Handel, after spending some of his early career composing operas"
"the traditional Latin Te Deum, although Berlioz changed the word order for dramatic purposes. The ""Te Deum"" was originally conceived as the climax of a grand symphony celebrating Napoleon Bonaparte. The finished work was dedicated to Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria. Some of the material used by Berlioz in the piece was originally written for his Messe Solennelle of 1824, thought to have been destroyed by the composer but rediscovered in 1991. The first performance of the work was on 30 April 1855, at the Church of Saint-Eustache, Paris; Berlioz conducted an ensemble of 900 or 950 performers."
"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"
"the regular operatic repertoire. Meeting only occasional success in France as a composer, Berlioz increasingly turned to conducting, in which he gained an international reputation. He was highly regarded in Germany, Britain and Russia both as a composer and as a conductor. To supplement his earnings he wrote musical journalism throughout much of his career; some of it has been preserved in book form, including his ""Treatise on Instrumentation"" (1844), which was influential in the 19th and 20th centuries. Berlioz died in Paris at the age of 65. Berlioz was born on 11 December 1803, the eldest child of Louis"
"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"
"for the Tsar"" and a ballet from his opera ""Russlan and Ludmilla"". The finale from Berlioz's dramatic symphony ""Roméo et Juliette"" had a Russian bass singing the role of Friar Laurence. The concert also included ""L'invitation à la valse"", Berlioz's orchestration of Carl Maria von Weber's piano piece ""Invitation to the Dance"" (which Berlioz had inserted as part of the ballet in his edition of Weber's opera ""Der Freischütz"" prepared for a production at the Paris Opera in 1841). Apparently Glinka was quite pleased with the music he heard by Berlioz: he soon departed on a trip to Spain planning"
"and retitled ""Robin des bois"" for an Odéon production in the 1820s), and that it contain music only by Weber. For the ballet, he orchestrated the piano score of ""Invitation to the Dance"", transposing it from D-flat major to D major, being a more orchestrally manageable key and also producing a brighter sound. He called the ballet ""L'Invitation à la valse""; as a result, the original piano work is sometimes referred to in English as ""Invitation to the Waltz"", but that is not its correct title. This production of the opera was first heard on 7 June 1841, but Berlioz's"
"""Hamlet"" on 11 September 1827, Berlioz fell in love with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson who had played the role of Ophelia. He sent her numerous love letters, all of which went unanswered. When she left Paris, they had still not met. Berlioz then wrote ""Symphonie fantastique"" as a way to express his unrequited love. Harriet did not attend the premiere in 1830, but she heard the work in 1832 and realized Berlioz's genius. The two finally met and were married on 3 October 1833. However, their marriage became increasingly bitter, and they eventually separated after several years of unhappiness."
"to compose ""fantaisies pittoresque"" in the style of Berlioz. The fourth program on 6 April was billed as a ""séance Berlioz"" and included the overture from Weber's ""Freischütz"", excerpts from Berlioz's symphonies ""Harold en Italie"" and ""Roméo et Juliette"", and Quasimodo's aria with chorus from Louise Bertin's opera ""La Esmeralda"" sung by the tenor Jean-Étienne-Auguste Massol, who had created the role at the Paris Opera in 1836. (At the premiere the aria had made such a good impression that Alexandre Dumas had cried out ""It's by Berlioz! It's by Berlioz!"". Berlioz denied that he had written any of the music,"
"in A), two bassoons, four horns in D, three trumpets (one in D and two in A), three trombones, tuba, timpani and strings. ""Le roi Lear"" (King Lear), Op. 4. Composed in Nice in 1831 during Berlioz's journey back to France after his stay in Italy (due to winning the Prix de Rome). The overture is based on Shakespeare's ""King Lear"", a recent discovery for the composer whose love of the dramatist is evident in many other of his works. It was first performed at the Paris Conservatoire on 22 December 1833. The instrumentation is two flutes (second doubling piccolo),"
"and Susan Graham. By far the most recorded of Berlioz's works is the ""Symphonie fantastique"". The discography of the British Hector Berlioz website lists 96 recordings, from the pioneering version by Gabriel Pierné and the Concerts Colonne in 1928 to those conducted by Beecham, Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch, Herbert von Karajan and Otto Klemperer to more recent versions including those of Boulez, Marc Minkowski, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and François-Xavier Roth. Works Writings 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"