Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto Cellini is an opera written in two acts with a score by Hector Berlioz and a libretto by Auguste Barbier and Léon de Wailly based upon Cellini’s autobiography. The work was three years in the writing, and it had its world premiere at the Opéra on 10 September 1838 after going through an exceptionally long period of 29 rehearsals because Berlioz’s music presented so many problems to the musicians. It enjoyed three consecutive performances on 10, 12, 14 September 1838; it was mounted…