Much Ado About Nothing (opera)

Much Ado About Nothing is an opera in four acts by Charles Villiers Stanford with a libretto by Julian Sturgis based on Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing. It premiered to considerable success at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 30 May 1901. The premiere cast included David Bispham as Bendedick, Marie Brema as Beatrice, Suzanne Adams as Hero, John Coates as Claudio, and Pol Plançon as Friar Abby.

Although rarely performed now, it was revived at the 1964 Wexford Opera Festival in a production directed by Peter Ebert

Sources

• Daly, Karina, Tom Walsh's Opera: A history of the Wexford Festival, 1951-2004, Four Courts, 2004. ISBN 1-85182-878-8
• Dibble, Jeremy, Charles Villiers Stanford: Man and Musician, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 334-335. ISBN 0-19-816383-5
• New York Times, Dr. Stanford's New Opera", 31 May 1901, p.9