Berlioz is best known today for his Symphonie Fantastique, the revolutionary work which introduced the idea of "program music" -- instrumental music designed to tell a specific story. But during his lifetime, the composer was at least as interested in a genre that permitted singing actors to present a story while accompanied by an orchestra: opera. Berlioz wrote five complete operas, of which Les Troyens and Benvenuto Cellini are the best known today. Berlioz wrote Béatrice et Bénédict on a commission from his patron Edouard Benazet, completing the opera in 1862. The title characters come from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, in which Beatrice and Benedict are the lovers who refuse to admit an affection for one another until their friends trick them into it. The overture captures the playful attitude of the scheming friends, spying from around bushes or darting suddenly into shadows. Particularly comic are the two sudden silences that interrupt the piece just as it is getting started. A slow section foretells of a more serious moment later, in the second act of the opera, when Beatrice becomes aware of Benedict's love for her. However, the main part of the overture, which follows, has the same upbeat character as the beginning. The overture demonstrates Berlioz's skill as an orchestrator, and especially his affection for brass instruments, of which this piece has ten.