Antony and Cleopatra

Tragedy by William Shakespeare, written and first performed in 1607-08. Mark Antony falls in love with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra in Alexandria, but returns to Rome when his wife, Fulvia, dies. He then marries Octavia to heal the rift between her brother Octavius Caesar and himself. Antony returns to Egypt and Cleopatra, but is finally defeated by Octavius. Believing Cleopatra dead, Antony kills himself, and Cleopatra takes her own life rather than surrender to Octavius.

Antony and Cleopatra

Opera by Samuel Barber (libretto by composer, based on Shakespeare), first performed on the opening night of the New York Metropolitan Opera in the Lincoln Center, on 16 September 1966. It was revised and produced at the Juilliard School of Music, New York, on 6 February 1975.