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''Benvenuto Cellini '' is an opera semiseria in two acts〔Originally, the opera had two acts; in the revised, Weimar version this was changed to three; in contemporary productions the first two acts of that version are generally merged without intermission.〕 with music by Hector Berlioz and libretto by and Henri Auguste Barbier. It was the first of Berlioz's operas, premiered in 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 Berlioz composed from material in the opera. == Composition history == Berlioz wrote in his memoirs that in 1834 (when he was thirty years old) I had been greatly struck by certain episodes in the life of ''Benvenuto Cellini''. I had the misfortune to believe they would make an interesting and dramatic subject for an opera, and I asked Léon de Wailly and Auguste Barbier...to write a libretto around them〔Berlioz (2014), 17〕The only plot element drawn directly from Cellini's memoirs concerns the casting of his statue of Perseus (which was in fact not cast in Rome but in Florence for Duke Cosimo I de Medici, where it is stll displayed in the Loggia dei Lanzi). All the personae other than Cellini (with the exception of Pope Clement VII who in the opera is made the commissioner of the statue), and all the other episodes in the opera, are invented.〔Rees (2014), 22–23. The opera's characterisation of the historical figure of Cellini is discussed in detail in 〕 The original libretto (now lost), which seems to have been in the format of an opéra comique, was rejected by the Paris Opéra-Comique company. The story was then reworked into an opéra semiseria format, without spoken dialogue, and offered to the Paris Opéra, for which it was accepted in 1835 by the new Opéra director, Henri Duponchel.〔Macdonald (2014), 13; Reed (2014), 24.〕 With actual composition starting in 1836, the opera was first performed at the Opéra on September 10, 1838, conducted by François Habeneck, and with Gilbert Duprez in the title role. At its premiere, the audience hissed most of the music after the first few numbers.〔(Wasselin, Christian, "Benvenuto Cellini" on the Hector Berlioz website ) for a more detailed inside story of the opera〕 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, where the title role was sung by Karl Beck, the same tenor who had created Wagner's Lohengrin in 1850, also under Liszt, and whose vocal powers were continuing to exhibit the same decline as was apparent two years earlier. It was performed 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, this time without Karl Beck, who had now retired from singing. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Benvenuto Cellini (opera)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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