Wikipedia
Lélio, ou le Retour à la Vie (English: Lélio, or the Return to Life) Op. 14b, is a work incorporating music and spoken text by the French composer Hector Berlioz, intended as a sequel to his Symphonie fantastique. It is written for a narrator, solo voices, chorus, and an orchestra including pianos.
It was composed in Italy in 1831, often using previously written music, and first performed at the Conservatoire de Paris on 9 December 1832 as Le retour à la vie, mélologue en six parties. It was revised for a performance in Weimar at the request of Franz Liszt in 1855 and published the following year. According to David Cairns, Lélio had the most "immediate impact" of all Berlioz's works, yet the fashionable Romantic features and the mixture of declamation and music which appealed to early audiences have served to date the piece and it is rarely revived or recorded nowadays.
Lélio is a stock character of the commedia dell'arte.
Lélio represents the happy innamorati, loved by the woman he loves (often Isabella), always friendly, gay, cheerful, with a hint of comic.
Several actors played the role in Paris, particularly Luigi Riccoboni who gained great successes with the part due to his talent, grace, elegance and happy countenance, as well as his son Antoine-François Riccoboni, called "Lélio fils".
Molière introduced the figure of Lélio in two of his comedies, l'Étourdi and The Imaginary Cuckold. Marivaux used it in his Surprise de l'amour and his Prince travesti.
Being of aristocratic rank, his outfit is highly sought as a court dress.