The cantata Cléopâtre belongs to a group of six surviving compositions written by Hector Berlioz between 1826  and 1830  for the prestigious Prix de Rome competition.  This was administered by the music section of the Académie des Beaux-arts, one of the four Académies that constituted the Institut de France during the Bourbon restoration.<br>
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The text of the cantata Cléopâtre, written for the competition by Pierre-Ange Vieillard, particularly fired Berlioz’s imagination.  His manuscript makes it clear that he viewed the work as a continuous monologue rather than as a traditional cantata with discrete sections of recitative and air.<br>