Beatrice and Benedict

As Romantic composers go, Berlioz is the most controversial. His last opera, Beatrice and Benedict, was inspired from Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing and received acclaim when it premiered in 1862 in Baden-Baden. Two visions of love stand between four young people: the safety of home versus unbridled desire. Claudio and Héro embody the innocence of marital love, while Beatrice and Benedict are so scared of the shackles of marriage that they refuse to acknowledge their attraction for one another and pretend to feel hatred instead. The conspiratorial tendencies of their controlling society of surveillance finally pushes them to give in. To tell this story, Berlioz composed music he described as “one of the liveliest and most original that I have written, that requires excessive delicacy in execution.” Director Damiano Michieletto expressed his fascination with the composer’s visionary genius, which “goes beyond the capacity to tell a story, and turns such a story into a personal journey during which the music transcends space and widens horizons.”

Opéra-comique in 2 acts, 1862
Libretto by the composer,after Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing

New production

Stage director : Damiano Michieletto
Musical director : Johannes Debus
Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra de Lyon