Béatrice et Bénédict is an opéra comique in two acts by French composer Hector Berlioz. Berlioz wrote the French libretto himself, based in general outline on a subplot in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
Cover of the first edition vocal score, with illustration by A. Barbizet
Louis-Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer and conductor. 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.
Louis Berlioz, the composer's father c. 1840
The Opéra, in the Rue le Peletier, Paris, c. 1821
Harriet Smithson as Ophelia
Marie ("Camille") Moke, later Pleyel