BÉATRICE ET BÉNÉDICT Opera en deux actes imite de Shakespeare...represente pour la 1re fois sur le nouveau Theatre de Bade, le 9 aout 1862. First edition, piano-vocal score.4to. [Title]; (vb); [Personnages / Table} 2 -200 pp. Original publisher's wrappers worn and toned, barely holding together with front and most signatures attached by one thread only and rear wrapper fully separated and torn. Scattered foxing, otherwise good with no markings. Hopkinson 63A.

"His last opera was an opera comique, composed almost as a relaxation after the travail of Les Troyens. Beatrice et Benedict was begun in 1860 and first performed in 1862. Berlioz made his own libretto from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing,.... 'It is a caprice written with a point of a needle,' in his own words" (Grove 2: 594). 

Dimitri Mitropoulos was Greece’s most prolific conductor and New York Philharmonic Music Director from 1949-1958.  Widely regarded as one of the most significant conductors of the twentieth century, he is best remembered for his significant recorded legacy and for his commitment in bringing new compositions to the stage of major symphony orchestras.  Indeed, it is thanks to his efforts that many of our current symphonic standards made their way into the repertory.  He gave World and American premiers of seminal works such as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, as well as other major works by Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and many others.  His personal collection has been held in private hands since his death in 1960, when it passed to conductor James Dixon, his student and protégé.  Mitropoulos came to consider Dixon his son, introducing him to conductors and performing arts institutions around the world, jumpstarting his career.  When Mitropoulos died in 1960 he left all his belongings, including his scores, to Dixon.  The bulk of the musical library has been subsequently gifted to the University of Iowa’s music library, but a selection of rare items have been selected to be offered for sale exclusively by Schubertiade Music & Arts.