Composition History
In 1834, Berlioz, de Wailly and Barbier devised a libretto in the opéra comique style, with spoken dialogue. However, the Paris Opéra-Comique company rejected it. The story was then reworked into more "conventional" opera format, without spoken dialogue. With actual composition starting in 1836, the opera was first performed at the Paris Opera on September 10, 1838, conducted by François Antoine Habeneck, and with Gilbert Duprez in the title-role. At its premiere, the audience, disturbed by the radical new opera, rioted, and the musicians branded the work as impossible to play.
In 1851, Franz Liszt offered to revive the opera in a new production (and version) in Weimar, and suggested changes to the score to Berlioz. This version was performed in Weimar in 1852, and also in London in 1853. However, the London reception was poor. The final performances of the opera in Berlioz's lifetime were in Weimar in 1856.
In 1856, the vocal score of the Weimar edition was published in Germany. A French publication of the Weimar version vocal score appeared in 1863 from Choudens. Thomasin La May has examined the Weimar edition of the opera. In 1996, a critical edition of the opera, edited by Hugh Macdonald, was published by Bärenreiter Verlag, as part of the New Berlioz Edition. The critical edition takes into account all of the available editions:
- the original version as Berlioz composed it, before changes demanded by the censors
- the version premiered in Paris, with the changes after evaluation by the censors
- the Weimar edition, after the changes suggested by Liszt.
Read more about this topic: Benvenuto Cellini (opera)
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