About the work
Béatrice et Bénédict is Hector Berlioz's last completed opera, a two-act opéra comique after Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Berlioz wrote the libretto himself and composed the work between 1860 and 1862 on commission from Baden-Baden's spa director Édouard Bénazet for the opening of the town's new theatre. The composer himself conducted the premiere on 9 August 1862 in Baden-Baden.
Plot
In Messina, troops return victorious; while Héro and Claudio prepare their wedding, the sharp-tongued Bénédict and Béatrice trade public mockery of love and marriage. Their friends secretly convince each of them that the other is hopelessly in love, until the mockery turns into real affection. By the double wedding at the end, Béatrice and Bénédict admit their love without losing their wit.
Cultural significance
Unlike Shakespeare's play, Berlioz drops the plot around Hero's supposed infidelity and focuses entirely on the comic couple; the pedantic conductor Somarone is widely read as the composer's self-parody. Guests at the premiere included Georges Bizet and Charles Gounod.