Lillian Nordica (December 12, 1857 – May 10, 1914) was an American opera singer who had a major stage career in Europe and her native country.
151-442: Les Huguenots ( French pronunciation: [le ˈyg(ə)no] ) is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera . In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps , it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836. Les Huguenots was some five years in creation. Meyerbeer prepared carefully for this opera after
302-433: A leitmotif developed and varied throughout the opera. The theme is present from the outset where it is subject to a series of variations that symbolize, according to Letellier, the feelings inspired by religion: recollection, love, consolation, exaltation, but also intolerance and fanaticism. In the song of Marcel in the first act, it corresponds to an expression of faith, full of conviction and aspiration to transcendence. In
453-547: A Jewish family. His father was the wealthy financier Judah Herz Beer (1769–1825) and his mother, Amalia (Malka) Wulff (1767–1854), to whom he was particularly devoted, also came from the moneyed elite. Their other children included the astronomer Wilhelm Beer and the poet Michael Beer . He was to adopt the surname Meyerbeer on the death of his grandfather Liebmann Meyer Wulff (1811) and italianize his first name to Giacomo during his period of study in Italy, around 1817. Judah Beer
604-534: A cast to his liking, (including Viardot as Fidès), and it premiered on 16 April 1849. Again Meyerbeer's new opera was an outstanding success – despite the unusual feature of the lead female role being the hero's mother, rather than his lover. Amongst those at the 47th performance in February 1850 was Richard Wagner, now an impoverished political exile; the success of a work so fundamentally against his own operatic principles
755-533: A century after its premiere.(The Paris Opera opened a new production of Les Huguenots in September 2018, the first time since 1936 for the opera to be performed there). Its many performances in all other of the world's major opera houses give it a claim to being the most successful opera of the 19th century. Other first performances included London ( Covent Garden Theatre ), 20 June 1842, and New Orleans ( Théâtre d'Orléans ) on 29 April 1839. Due to its subject matter it
906-464: A close friendship with Weber and other pupils, Meyerbeer established the Harmonischer Verein (Musical Union) , whose members undertook to support each other with favourable press criticism and networking. On 12 February 1813 Beer received the first of the string of honours he was to accumulate throughout his life when he was appointed 'Court Composer' by Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt . He
1057-410: A continuing tradition of operas at Paris where 'principals appear with chorus at the end of an act and where private intrigue conjoins a well-articulated public dimension in the plot' and cites amongst others Charles Gounod 's La nonne sanglante (1854), Ambroise Thomas 's Hamlet and operas by Jules Massenet , amongst them Le roi de Lahore (1877) and Le Cid (1885). The line of succession
1208-564: A deliberately 'unbeautiful' sound.....with unusual orchestration designed to express ...content rather than produce a sensuous sound' and opines that this explains much of the criticism he received from German writers on music. Meyerbeer's concern to integrate musical power with all the resources of contemporary theatre anticipated in some ways the ideas of Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk . Becker writes: Wagner's idea of music drama...was originally developed by way of grand opera...his ideas could never have been realised in their particular form without
1359-433: A dominating figure in the world of opera, was summarized by his contemporary Hector Berlioz , who claimed that he 'has not only the luck to be talented, but the talent to be lucky.' He was at his peak with his operas Les Huguenots (1836) and Le prophète (1849); his last opera ( L'Africaine ) was performed posthumously. His operas made him the most frequently performed composer at the world's leading opera houses in
1510-447: A drama partly based on Prosper Mérimée 's 1829 novel Chronique du règne de Charles IX . Coming from a wealthy family, Meyerbeer could afford to take his time, dictate his own terms, and to be a perfectionist. The very detailed contract which Meyerbeer arranged with Louis-Désiré Véron , director of the Opéra, for Les Huguenots (and which was drawn up for him by the lawyer Adolphe Crémieux )
1661-609: A friend, 'I go from museum to museum, library to library, theatre to theatre, with the restlessness of the Wandering Jew '. During his years in Italy Meyerbeer became acquainted with, and impressed by, the works of his contemporary Gioachino Rossini , who by 1816, at the age of 24, was already director of both major opera houses in Naples and in the same year premiered his operas The Barber of Seville and Otello . Meyerbeer wrote
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#17328482936231812-456: A girl from an attack on her in the street. Although he does not know her name or her origins, he immediately fell in love ( Romance: "Plus blanche que la blanche hermine") . (With a daring and unusual stroke of orchestration , Meyerbeer accompanies this aria with a solo viola d'amore ). Raoul's Protestant servant Marcel enters and the old man is shocked to see his master in such wicked company enjoying games, drinking and tales of love. Marcel sings
1963-569: A great sensation, was composed after rehearsals had begun, in order to capitalise on the new craze for roller skates. The theatre was also able to use new electrical lighting effects to create a powerful sunrise, and to depict the conflagration which ends the opera. Meyerbeer's large choral 'tableaux' also made a major contribution to the overall dramatic effect; the composer particularly sought opportunities to write such large-scale crowd scenes, and preferred libretti which offered such possibilities. Crosten writes: 'These massive developed sections are
2114-603: A hearty Protestant prayer (to the tune of 'Ein feste Burg') while the Catholic lords toast their mistresses. One of the Catholics recognises the old man from a battle they fought and asks him to have a drink with him to bury any grudge. Marcel refuses, and then, at the Catholics' request,he sings a Huguenot battle song from the siege of La Rochelle , calling for the extermination of Catholics (Chanson huguenote: "Piff, paff, piff, paff"). The Catholics are merely amused by this. A valet of
2265-568: A lot – it's too much.' King Frederick William III of Prussia who attended the second performance of Robert le diable , swiftly invited him to compose a German opera, and Meyerbeer was invited to stage Robert in Berlin. Within a few years the opera had been staged with success all over Europe, and also in the USA. The fusion of dramatic music, melodramatic plot, and sumptuous staging in Robert le diable proved
2416-408: A masterpiece of romantic tragedy". Reviewing the premiere of the opera, Hector Berlioz wrote "The dramatic expression is always true and profound, with fresh colours, warm movement, elegant forms; in instrumentation, in effects of vocal masses, this score surpasses all that has been attempted to this day." One of the most striking innovations is the treatment of Luther's chorale "Ein feste Burg" as
2567-421: A musical theme recurring throughout the opera, and to the depiction of religious division, writing "I am not a moralist, but for a good Protestant it is offensive to hear his most cherished song being yelled on the stage and to see the bloodiest drama in the history of his faith degraded to the level of a fairground farce. Meyerbeer's highest ambition is to startle or titillate, and he certainly succeeds in that with
2718-549: A series of Italian operas on Rossinian models, including Romilda e Costanza ( Padua , 1817), Semiramide riconosciuta ( Turin , 1819), Emma di Resburgo ( Venice , 1819), Margherita d'Anjou (Milan, 1820) and L'esule di Granata ( Milan , 1821). All but the last two of these had libretti by Gaetano Rossi , whom Meyerbeer continued to support until the latter's death in 1855, although not commissioning any further libretti from him after Il crociato in Egitto (1824). During
2869-407: A small American boy, who was taken ill while on a different vessel passing through Torres Strait . After his death, Nordica installed a gravestone in the local cemetery in his memory. She was well enough on Thursday Island to make a new will, which disinherited her husband. (The Australian poet and novelist Thomas Shapcott dramatised these events in his 1998 novel Theatre of Darkness . ) Nordica
3020-498: A strenuous tour to Australia, which proved to be her last. Nordica made a number of acoustic discs for Columbia Records . They were recorded comparatively late in her career, however, and are of a poor technical standard. Nevertheless, they do indicate her considerable range as a singer, for she is able to perform both coloratura showpieces (such as "Io son Titania" from Mignon ) and dramatic Wagnerian solos (such as " Mild und leise " from Tristan und Isolde ). Her best known record
3171-664: A sure-fire formula, as did the partnership with Scribe, which Meyerbeer would go on to repeat in Les Huguenots , Le prophète , and L'Africaine . All of these operas held the international stage throughout the 19th century, as did the more pastoral Dinorah (1859), making Meyerbeer the most frequently performed composer at leading opera houses in the nineteenth century. Letellier describes Meyerbeer's mature life as 'a tale of two cities...His artistic triumph and legendary status were achieved in Paris...but he never abandoned Prussia, especially his home city of Berlin'. His wife Minna
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#17328482936233322-438: A theatre acoustic. A CD of her gramophone and cylinder recordings was released by Marston Records in 2003, complete with extensive liner notes dealing with Nordica's voice and career (see below). Nordica's successful operatic career contrasted with her disastrous personal life. Nordica wed three times. In 1882, she retired from the stage to marry Frederick A. Gower, whom she sued for divorce in 1885, but who disappeared at about
3473-573: A visit to Sicily in 1816, Meyerbeer noted down a number of folksongs , and these in fact constitute the earliest collection of folk music of the region. In a birthday greeting from Rossi's wife in 1817 occurs the earliest use discovered of Meyerbeer's adopted forename 'Giacomo'. The name Giacomo Meyerbeer first became known internationally with his opera Il crociato in Egitto —premiered in Venice in 1824 and produced in London and Paris in 1825; incidentally, it
3624-464: Is Catholic. She also informs the young man that she is now free, Nevers having been killed after having defended Protestants. Raoul seems to hesitate but finally refuses Valentine's proposal to pass as Catholic. She immediately decides to share the fate of the one she loves by abjuring the Catholic faith. She asks Marcel to bless her. Marcel does so and declares the couple married in the sight of God (Trio: "Savez-vous qu’en joignant vos mains") . Meanwhile,
3775-453: Is Nevers' intended bride, Valentine (daughter of St. Bris), instructed by the Queen to break off her engagement. The page Urbain enters with a secret message for Raoul, daring him to come blindfolded to a secret rendezvous with an unnamed woman ( Cavatina: "Une dame noble et sage") . The Catholics recognize the seal on the letter as belonging to the Queen of Navarre and drink to Raoul's health as he
3926-409: Is a testament to this. While Meyerbeer was writing the opera, another opera with a similar setting and theme ( Le pré aux clercs by Ferdinand Hérold ) was also produced in Paris (1832). Like Meyerbeer's, Hérold's work was extremely popular in its time, although it is now only seldom performed. Meyerbeer decided that he wanted more historical details of the period and a greater psychological depth to
4077-581: Is also sung in unison by Valentine, Raoul and Marcel as they have an ecstatic vision of heaven awaiting them upon their imminent deaths. Also very innovatory were the huge multiple choruses, as for instance in the Pré-aux-Clercs scene at the start of Act 3, when Protestant soldiers sing a "rataplan" chorus, Catholic girls cross the stage chanting praise to the Virgin with a third chorus of law clerks. These are all first heard separately, then combined and to this mix
4228-581: Is amazed by the beauty of his surroundings as well as that of the young woman who stands before him, while she is tempted to try to keep the charming young man for herself rather than have him marry Valentine as she had planned (Duet: "Beauté divine enchanteresse") .The lords and ladies of the court, including Nevers and Saint-Bris enter, and the Queen orders everyone to swear friendship and peace, which all aver, except for Marcel, who disapproves of his master mixing with Catholics (Oath:Par l’honneur, par le nom que portaient) . The Queen presents Valentine to Raoul as
4379-473: Is for the voice (opera and songs) and this reflects his detailed grounding in Italian opera. Throughout his career he wrote his operas with specific singers in mind and took great care to temper his writing to their strengths; but at the same time he seemed little interested in expressing the emotions of his characters, preferring to use his music to underline the larger-scale machinations of the plot. In this way he
4530-451: Is generally judged the most gripping in the opera, and is accompanied by some of its most dramatic music. When the nobles have departed, Raoul re-appears and is torn between warning his fellows and staying with Valentine (Duet:"Ô ciel! où courez-vous ?") . Valentine is desperate to prevent him from meeting death by going to the assistance of his fellow Protestants and admits she loves him, which sends Raoul into raptures. However they hear
4681-474: Is led away. The castle and gardens at the Château de Chenonceaux . The river meanders to the middle of the stage, disappearing from time to time behind clumps of green trees. On the right, a wide staircase by which we descend from the castle into the gardens. Queen Marguerite looks into a mirror held by her enamoured page Urbain, and sings a virtuoso pastorale ( O beau pays de la Touraine ) . She hopes to avoid
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4832-443: Is not accidental; they reflect his own sense of living in a potentially inimical society.' Meyerbeer's relationship with Heine displays the awkwardness and prickliness of the social personae of both parties. Meyerbeer, apart from any of his personal feelings, needed Heine onside as an influential personality and writer on music. He genuinely admired Heine's verse, and made a number of settings from it. Heine, living in Paris from 1830,
4983-625: Is probably that of a demanding aria from the Hungarian opera Hunyadi Laszlo by Ferenc Erkel , which she cut in 1907. Nordica can be also heard briefly in some of the Mapleson Cylinders that were recorded during actual performances at the Metropolitan Opera House during the first few years of the 20th century. The sound of these cylinders is primitive but the impressive size of Nordica's voice can be better appreciated as it rings out in
5134-531: Is six o'clock in the evening, in the month of August. Citizens enjoy a stroll on a beautiful Sunday evening (Entracte et chœur: C’est le jour de dimanche) . The Huguenot soldiers sing a blood-thirsty war song in praise of the Protestant Admiral Coligny (Couplets militaires: "Prenant son sabre de bataille") . A procession of Catholic girls crosses the scene on the way to the chapel where Valentine and Nevers are about to be married, chanting praise to
5285-506: Is surprised by Raoul who wishes to have one last meeting with her. The sound of approaching people leads Raoul to hide behind a curtain, where he hears the Catholic nobles pledge to murder the Huguenots. They are accompanied by three monks, who bless the swords and daggers to be used in the massacre, declaring it to be God's will that the heretics be killed. Only Nevers does not join in the oath (Conjuration:"Des troubles renaissants") . This scene
5436-424: Is then added the wives and girlfriends of the Catholic students and Protestant soldiers hurling abuse at each other. Berlioz marveled that "The richness of texture in the Pré-aux-Clercs scene [of act III] […] was extraordinary, yet the ear could follow it with such ease that every strand in the composer's complex thought was continually apparent—a marvel of dramatic counterpoint'. and said the music in that act "dazzles
5587-737: The Bayreuth Festival in Germany in 1894 as Elsa in Lohengrin . In her native America, Nordica was particularly associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where her frequent stage partner was the cultured Polish tenor Jean de Reszke . She sang at the Met from 1891 until 1910, with some breaks in between. By all accounts Nordica possessed an extremely big, agile and pure-toned soprano voice which she
5738-496: The Nazi regime in Germany, and were neglected by opera houses through most of the twentieth century. In the 21st century, however, the composer's major French grand operas have begun to reappear in the repertory of numerous European opera houses. Meyerbeer's birthname was Jacob Liebmann Beer; he was born in Tasdorf (now a part of Rüdersdorf ), near Berlin , then the capital of Prussia , to
5889-532: The Opéra-Comique theatre, was refashioned after 1829 in a five-act form to meet the requirements of the Paris Opéra. Its revised characterisation as a ' grand opera ' placed it in succession to Auber 's La muette de Portici (1828) and Rossini's Guillaume Tell (1829) in this new genre. The composer undertook further work on the opera in early 1831 adding ballet episodes, including the "Ballet of Nuns", which
6040-576: The Queen . The Beer children were provided with a fine education; their tutors included two of the leaders of the enlightened Jewish intelligentsia, the author Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn and Edmund Kley, (later a reform movement rabbi in Hamburg) to whom they remained attached into their maturity. The brothers Alexander von Humboldt , the renowned naturalist, geographer and explorer, and the philosopher, linguist and diplomat Wilhelm von Humboldt were close friends of
6191-456: The Réminiscences de Robert le diable subtitled Valse infernale . He also transcribed two pieces from L'Africaine , as "Illustrations de l'opéra L'Africaine ". Frédéric Chopin and Auguste Franchomme jointly composed a Grand duo concertant on themes from the opera, for cello and piano, in 1832, and the Italian pianist and composer Adolfo Fumagalli composed an elaborate fantasy on
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6342-476: The foreskin of which we are robbed on the eighth day of life; those who, on the ninth day, do not bleed from this operation shall continue to bleed an entire lifetime, even after death. It was perhaps this attitude that led Meyerbeer never to enter public controversy with those who antagonized him, either professionally or personally, although he occasionally displayed his grudges in his Diaries ; for example, on hearing Robert Schumann conduct in 1850: 'I saw for
6493-581: The 'Pré aux clercs' on the left bank of the Seine , at sunset. On the left, a tavern where Catholic students sit with girls; on the right, another tavern in front of which Huguenot soldiers drink and play dice. In the background, on the left, the entrance to a chapel. In the middle, a huge tree shading the meadow. At the front of the stage, clerics from La Basoche and grisettes sit on chairs and chat between themselves. Others are walking around. Workers, merchants,traveling musicians, monks, and middle-class townspeople. It
6644-504: The Count of Nevers informs his master that a mysterious woman wishes to speak to him. The count goes out to meet the stranger. Catholic lords wonder about the identity of the unknown woman and try to see her. They invite Raoul to do the same. Recognizing the young woman he saved and fell in love with, the young Huguenot, believing she is one of the mistresses of the Count of Nevers he has been boasting about, swears never to see her again. In fact she
6795-619: The Jewish cemetery in Schönhauser Allee . L'Africaine was eventually premiered after Meyerbeer's death at the Salle Le Peletier on 28 April 1865 in a performing edition undertaken by François-Joseph Fétis . Meyerbeer's immense wealth (increased by the success of his operas) and his continuing adherence to his Jewish religion set him apart somewhat from many of his musical contemporaries. They also gave rise to rumours that his success
6946-651: The King's request, for the first staging in Berlin in 1856 of his brother Michael's play Struensee (based on the life of Johann Friedrich Struensee ), which had also been proscribed under the previous regime. In 1843 the Berlin Opera house burned down. The creation of the new building gave a new opportunity to commission a German opera from Meyerbeer. The subject of the opera, Ein Feldlager in Schlesien (A Silesian Encampment) ,
7097-667: The Milkmaid) was produced in March 1810 at the Court Opera in Berlin. His formal training with the Abbé Vogler at Darmstadt between 1810 and 1812 was, however, of crucial importance, and at around this time he begins to sign himself 'Meyer Beer'. Here, with his fellow students (among whom was Carl Maria von Weber ), he learned not only the craft of composition but also the business of music (organising concerts and dealing with publishers). Forming
7248-511: The Paris Opéra was vainly awaiting Le prophète and L'Africaine , was not atypical: The Paris Opéra lies dying. It looks for its salvation to the German Messiah, Meyerbeer; if he keeps it waiting much longer, its death agonies will begin...It is for that reason...that one only sees Robert le Diable and Les Huguenots turning up again when the mediocrities are forced to withdraw. Lillian Nordica Nordica established herself as one of
7399-514: The Protestants who barricaded themselves in the church intone Luther's hymn "Ein feste Burg". Suddenly, the singing inside the church is interrupted. The Catholics have broken down the door of the church and threaten to kill all the Protestant women and children if they do not renounce their faith. After refusing, the Protestants resume their singing, interrupted several times by musket shots. Finally,
7550-568: The Virgin (Litanies :" Vierge Marie, soyez bénie !") Marcel enters with a letter from Raoul to Saint-Bris and interrupts the procession, seeking to know Saint-Bris's whereabouts. The Catholics are outraged by Marcel's sacrilege but the Huguenot soldiers defend him. Tension is rising when a band of gypsies enter, dancing and telling fortunes, and calm things down (Ronde bohémienne: "Venez ! – Vous qui voulez savoir d’avance" and gypsy dance) . Valentine has just married Nevers, but remains in
7701-580: The age of 18. She later studied in New York City with Emilio Belari . Norton made her public debut at the conservatory as a soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society . Convinced that she could forge a successful career as a professional performer, Norton travelled to Italy and put a final bel canto polish on her vocalism through study in Milan . "Nordica", a stage name , was bestowed by an Italian maestro at
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#17328482936237852-668: The arrival of the Queen, on horseback, stems the chaos. Raoul realises that Valentine has saved him and that his suspicions of her were unfounded. However, now she is married to his enemy and indeed at that moment an illuminated barge appears on the river with wedding guests serenading the newly wedded couple (Wedding chorus:"Au banquet où le ciel leur apprête") . Nevers leads her away in a splendid procession as Catholics and Protestants loudly proclaim their murderous hatred of each other (Chorus of fighters:"Non, plus de paix ni trêve") . A room in Nevers' Parisian town-house. Family portraits decorate
8003-435: The assembly that the second stroke was the signal for the Catholic massacre of the Huguenots. Admiral Coligny has been assassinated, Raoul tells them, and Protestant men, women and children are being slaughtered in the street by the thousands. The women flee, panic-stricken, as the Protestant men prepare to defend themselves. Scene 2: A cemetery: in the background, a Protestant church whose stained glass windows are visible. On
8154-421: The ballet was an innovative and striking design by Duponchel and Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri . Duponchel had also introduced technical innovations for the staging, including 'English traps' for the sudden appearance and disappearance of the ghosts. (Meyerbeer was led in fact to complain that the spectacle was too much and was pushing his music into the background). In Le prophète , the skating ballet, which created
8305-447: The basis of any theory or philosophy of music and was not an innovator in harmony or musical form . In the words of John H. Roberts: "He had a rich fund of appealing if somewhat short-breathed melody, commanded an increasingly rich harmonic vocabulary, and was a master of brilliant and novel orchestral effect. But he had very limited skill in thematic development and even less in contrapuntal combination." All of his significant music
8456-698: The beginning of her operatic career. He convinced her that European opera-goers would not tolerate a diva with a plain sounding, Anglo-American name. The adopted name, Giglia Nordica , meant "Lily of the North", but she soon became known as "Madame Nordica" or simply as "Nordica". As Madame Nordica, she made her operatic debut at Brescia in 1879. She achieved a high rank among the international prima donnas of her era, appearing in many major musical venues in Western Europe and Russia. She sang for example at The Royal Opera House , Covent Garden , in 1887–93 and performed at
8607-499: The bell of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois ringing, the signal for the massacre to begin, and Valentine faints as Raoul leaps out the window to join his co-religionists. Scene 1: A beautifully lit ballroom in the Hôtel de Nesle The Protestants are celebrating the marriage of the Queen to Henry of Navarre . The tolling of a bell interrupts the dancing and festivities, as does the entrance of Raoul, in torn clothing covered in blood, who informs
8758-681: The biblical story of Judith , and an opéra comique , Le pardon de Ploërmel , (also known as Dinorah , the title given to the Italian version performed at London) to a libretto by Jules Barbier . The latter premiered on 4 April 1859 at the Opéra Comique in Paris; the former, like many previous projects, remained only as sketches. The death of Scribe in 1861 was a further disincentive to Meyerbeer to proceed with his operatic work in progress. In 1862, in accordance with his original contract with Scribe, he paid Scribe's widow compensation for not completing Judith . Nevertheless, Meyerbeer's last years saw
8909-468: The central and fictitious love story between Raoul and Valentine, dependent on Raoul's mistaken belief that she is Nevers' mistress, a misunderstanding that goes on for three acts when it could easily have been cleared up much sooner. Other critics have praised the psychological realism of the characters, Ernest Newman , for instance, stating that "Meyerbeer gave his audiences the delighted feeling that they were being brought into touch with real life, and that
9060-467: The chapel to pray. Marcel delivers a challenge from Raoul. Saint-Bris decides to kill Raoul, but is overheard by Valentine. The town crier declares curfew (the scene anticipating a similar one in Wagner 's Die Meistersinger ) and the crowds disperse. Valentine, in disguise, tells Marcel of the plot by her father and others to murder Raoul (Duet: Dans la nuit où seul je veille ). Valentine realises that despite
9211-431: The characters than Scribe's text was supplying so he obtained Scribe's approval to invite a second librettist, Émile Deschamps, to collaborate on the text in order to furnish these elements. Meyerbeer was recommended to take his wife to a warmer climate for her health, and while in Italy for that purpose he consulted with the librettist of his earlier Italian operas, Gaetano Rossi . With his advice Meyerbeer himself re-wrote
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#17328482936239362-454: The characters they saw on the boards were men and women such as they might meet any day themselves." The character of Marcel, a creation both textually and musically of Meyerbeer, has met particular praise from critics, evolving as he does from the status of intolerant servant in the first act to that of visionary spiritual guide in the last. Liszt wrote "The role of Marcel, the purest type of popular pride and religious sacrifice, seems to us to be
9513-501: The chief glory of the Meyerbeerian opera, for they are not only big in volume but big in their structural design'. Mention should also be made of Meyerbeer's intense concern with the business of opera, which indeed had formed part of his studies under Vogler. This gave him the background not only to deal with complex contractual issues and to negotiate with publishers but extended to wooing the press and 'marketing' in general. Indeed, he
9664-400: The composition of a good deal of non-operatic music, including a Coronation March for William I of Prussia , (1861), an overture for the 1862 International Exhibition in London, and incidental music (now lost) to Henry Blaze de Bury 's play La jeunesse de Goethe (1860). He composed a few settings of liturgical material, including one of the 91st Psalm (1853); and also choral works for
9815-404: The continuing delays in the production of Le prophète and L'Africaine , Meyerbeer was now becoming subject to increasing sniping in Paris. In 1846 Meyerbeer began work on a new project with Scribe and Saint-Georges, Noëma , but in the following year Pillet was sacked from the opera and the direction was resumed by Duponchel. As a consequence, Meyerbeer was at last able to stage Le prophète with
9966-403: The couple were to have five children, of whom the three youngest (all daughters) survived to adulthood. In the same year, following the death of Carl Maria von Weber, Weber's widow asked Meyerbeer to complete her husband's unfinished comic opera Die drei Pintos . This was to cause him much trouble over future years, as he found the material insufficient to work on. Eventually, in 1852 he settled
10117-479: The day of issue and was immediately reprinted. Such manoeuvres did little to endear Meyerbeer to his fellow artists, and indeed engendered envious comments of the sort already quoted from Berlioz and Chopin. Meyerbeer had no pupils and no direct 'school'. Yet as his works spanned the golden age of grand opera , clear traces of his influence can be found in the grand operas of Fromental Halévy , Gaetano Donizetti , Giuseppe Verdi and others. After 1850, Huebner notes
10268-700: The dearth of productions in the 20th century were the scale of the work and the cost of mounting it, as well as the alleged lack of virtuoso singers capable of doing justice to Meyerbeer's demanding music. However, recent successful productions of the opera at relatively small centres such as Metz (2004) show that this conventional wisdom can be challenged. Since then, there have been highly successful new productions of Les Huguenots at major opera houses in France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. Performances of Les Huguenots are no longer rare in Europe. The story culminates in
10419-724: The decade 1810–1820, including Moscheles , considered him amongst the greatest virtuosi of his period. He wrote during this period numerous piano pieces, including a concerto and set of variations for piano and orchestra, but these have been lost. To this period also belongs a Clarinet Quintet written for the virtuoso Heinrich Baermann (1784–1847) who remained a close friend of the composer. Despite performances of his oratorio Gott und die Natur (God and Nature) (Berlin, 1811) and his early operas Jephtas Gelübde ( Jephtha 's Vow) ( Munich , 1812) and Wirth und Gast (Landlord and Guest) ( Stuttgart , 1813) in Germany, Meyerbeer had set his sights by 1814 on basing an operatic career in Paris. In
10570-525: The diabolical nature of Bertram and his associates. At one point the arrival of a character is announced by a combination of three solo timpani and pizzicato double-basses. Similar adventurousness is shown in Les Huguenots where the composer uses a solo bass clarinet and solo viola d'amore to accompany arias. For Le prophète , Meyerbeer considered using the newly invented saxophone. Becker suggests that Meyerbeer in all his grand operas often: 'created
10721-457: The difficult passages and other solo parts with aplomb, and has fine powers of rendition even more rarely found in one of his age, made the concert even more interesting'. Beer, as he still named himself, studied with Antonio Salieri and the German master and friend of Goethe , Carl Friedrich Zelter . Louis Spohr organised a concert for Beer at Berlin in 1804 and continued his acquaintance with
10872-552: The dramatic cohesion of his operas; typically, he would write far too much music and the scores of his operas would have to be drastically cut during rehearsals. (The lengthy overture to Le prophète had to be cut in its entirety, surviving only in a piano arrangement by Charles-Valentin Alkan .) The first signs of Meyerbeer breaking with the Italian traditions in which he had trained are in Il crociato in Egitto . Amongst other notable features of
11023-423: The ear as bright light does the eye". Both Liszt and Berlioz greatly admired the instrumentation of the opera. Liszt wrote that "the orchestral effects are so cleverly combined and diversified that we have never been able to attend a performance of the Huguenots without a new feeling of surprise and admiration for the art of the master who has managed to dye in a thousand shades, almost ungraspable in their delicacy,
11174-578: The early part of the twentieth century and it fell out of the operatic repertoire worldwide, except for very occasional revivals. Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge were the major force in the opera's revival during the second half of the 20th century. Sutherland chose the opera for her final performance at the Sydney Opera House on 2 October 1990, Bonynge conducting the Opera Australia Orchestra. Amongst reasons often adduced for
11325-449: The extended overture Meyerbeer originally intended for the opera. The stage represents the chateau of the Count of Nevers, in Touraine . In the background, large open windows show gardens and a lawn, on which several lords play ball; on the right, a door leading into the inner apartments; at left, a window closed by a curtain and which is supposed to lead to a prayer room ; at the front of
11476-466: The family circle. Beer's first keyboard instructor was Franz Lauska , a pupil of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and a favoured teacher at the Berlin court. Beer also became one of Muzio Clementi 's pupils while Clementi was in Berlin. The boy made his public debut in 1801 playing Mozart 's D minor Piano Concerto in Berlin. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported: 'The amazing keyboard playing of young Bär (a Jewish lad of 9), who carried off
11627-402: The finale of the second act, it is used as a cantus firmus to affirm the resolution and strength of Protestants in the face of danger. In the third act, it is a call to arms to escape traps and betrayals. Finally, in the last act, it becomes the stifled and distant prayer of the Protestants who seek to escape the massacre to become an ultimate cry of defiance against the Catholic executioners and
11778-553: The first magnitude, despite facing powerful competition during her career from a number of other outstanding dramatic sopranos. Her main rivals included Lilli Lehmann , Rosa Sucher , Katharina Klafsky , Milka Ternina , Therese Malten , Johanna Gadski , Félia Litvinne , Olive Fremstad , Anna von Mildenburg and Emmy Destinn . Nordica wrote a treatise called Hints to Singers . A copy is appended to her Yankee Diva biography. By 1913, Nordica's voice and health were in decline. This did not prevent her from embarking misguidedly on
11929-401: The first time in an opera in the scene in the last act during which Marcel "marries" Valentine and Raoul just before they are murdered, creating an other-worldly, funereal effect. Following five years after Meyerbeer's own Robert le diable and a year after Fromental Halévy 's La Juive , Les Huguenots consolidated the genre of Grand Opera , in which the Paris Opéra would specialise for
12080-438: The first time the man who, as a critic, has persecuted me for twelve years with a deadly enmity.' In his mature operas, Meyerbeer selected stories which almost invariably featured as a major element of storyline a hero living within a hostile environment. Robert, Raoul the Huguenot, Jean the prophet, and the defiant Vasco da Gama in L'Africaine are all 'outsiders'. It has been suggested that 'Meyerbeer's choice of these topics
12231-502: The foremost dramatic sopranos of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She had a powerful yet flexible voice and the ability to perform an unusually wide range of roles in the German, French and Italian operatic repertoires. Lillian Allen Norton was born in 1857 in a small Cape Cod style farmhouse built by her grandfather on a hill in Farmington, Maine . In her youth, Norton is said to have possessed an inherent fondness for music and
12382-624: The form of keyboard paraphrases or fantasies. Perhaps the most elaborate and substantial of these is Franz Liszt's monumental Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" , S. 259 (1852), for organ or pédalier , based on the chorale of the Anabaptist priests in Le prophète and dedicated to Meyerbeer. The work was also published in a version for piano duet (S. 624) which was much later arranged for solo piano by Ferruccio Busoni . Liszt also wrote piano works based on Robert le diable , notably
12533-472: The genre of grand opera 'decisive character'. Meyerbeer's grand opera style was achieved by his merging of German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition. These were employed in the context of sensational and melodramatic libretti created by Eugène Scribe and were enhanced by the up-to-date theatre technology of the Paris Opéra . They set a standard that helped to maintain Paris as the opera capital of
12684-455: The girl he loves and will marry to cement relations between the Protestant and Catholic factions. In a complex final ensemble, Raoul, who believes Valentine is the mistress of Nevers, refuses to comply with the Queen's command. The nobles then swear revenge, Valentine is devastated by this insult to her honour, the Queen does not understand Raoul's reason for rejecting the marriage and Marcel reproaches Raoul for consorting with Catholics. Paris,
12835-653: The historical St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 in which thousands of French Huguenots ( Protestants ) were slaughtered by Catholics in an effort to rid France of Protestant influence. Although the massacre was a historical event, the rest of the action, which primarily concerns the love between the Catholic Valentine and the Protestant Raoul, is wholly a creation of Scribe. A short orchestral prelude, featuring Martin Luther 's chorale " Ein feste Burg ", replaces
12986-474: The history of music and theatre in the composer's time. Meyerbeer's personal attachment to Judaism was a mature personal decision – after the death of his maternal grandfather in 1811 he wrote to his mother: 'Please accept from me a promise that I will always live in the religion in which he died'. In his diaries he noted significant family events including birthdays, not by their Gregorian calendar occurrence, but by their Jewish calendar dates. Moreover, he
13137-460: The lad later in Vienna and Rome. A portrait of Jacob commissioned by the family at this time shows him 'confidently facing the viewer, his hair romantically dishevelled... his left hand rests on the keyboard, and his right hand grasps a musical manuscript... plac[ing] its subject in the tradition of the young Mozart'. Beer's first stage work, the ballet Der Fischer und das Milchmädchen (The Fisherman and
13288-520: The lead role of Vielka, but the opera premiered on 7 December 1844 without her (although she did appear in subsequent performances). The libretto was revised by Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer to a Bohemian background as Vielka for a production in Vienna (1847). (In a further incarnation, the music was later used by Meyerbeer for a revamped libretto by Scribe featuring Peter the Great , and produced as an opéra comique in Paris ( L'étoile du nord , 1854)). With
13439-424: The left, a small door that leads into the interior of the church. On the right, a gate that overlooks a crossroads Under the leadership of Marcel, Protestant women take refuge with their children in the church. It is there that Raoul finds his old servant, who, resigned, prepares to die. Valentine arrives and tells Raoul that his life will be saved if he agrees to wear a white scarf around his arm, indicating that he
13590-425: The libretto "If one continually reproaches the poet for striving after dramatic effects, it would be unjust not to acknowledge how thrilling these can often be" while Hector Berlioz in his review of the premiere wrote "the new libretto by M. Scribe seems to us to be admirably arranged for music and full of situations of undoubted dramatic interest". Some writers have condemned as nothing more than "kitsch melodrama"
13741-498: The libretto of Rienzi , and Meyerbeer agreed to look through the score, which indeed he subsequently recommended for performance at Dresden. By the end of 1841, Meyerbeer had completed the first draft of Le prophète , but refused to stage it because the then director of the opera, Leon Pillet, wished to cast his mistress, Rosine Stoltz , in the part of Fidès, the hero's mother. (Berlioz characterised Stoltz as 'la Directrice du Directeur'). Meyerbeer insisted on Pauline Viardot for
13892-465: The luck to be talented, he had the talent to be lucky' – wrote 'I can't forget that Meyerbeer was only able to persuade [the Opéra] to put on Robert le diable ... by paying the administration sixty thousand francs of his own money'; and Frédéric Chopin lamented 'Meyerbeer had to work for three years and pay his own expenses for his stay in Paris before Robert le diable could be staged....Three years, that's
14043-475: The main role in L'Africaine would be written for Falcon; after the catastrophic failure of her voice in 1837, he turned instead to Le prophète . On 20 August 1839, Meyerbeer, whilst relaxing at Boulogne in the company of Moscheles , met for the first time with Richard Wagner , who was en route to Paris. Their ensuing relationship (see below) was to have major repercussions for the careers and reputations of both. At this meeting Wagner read to Meyerbeer from
14194-406: The massacre, to no avail. A chorus of soldiers, hunting for more Protestants to murder and singing 'God wants blood!', brings the opera to a close. In Les Huguenots , Scribe and Meyerbeer depicted religious fanaticism and sectarianism causing bloody civil division for the first time. The composer Robert Schumann in a scathing review of the piece, objected to the use of the hymn "Ein feste Burg" as
14345-476: The matter with Weber's heirs by handing them Weber's drafts and cash compensation. (The opera was later completed by Gustav Mahler ). With his next opera Meyerbeer became virtually a superstar. Robert le diable (with libretto by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne ), produced in Paris in 1831, was one of the earliest grand operas . The libretto, originally planned in 1827 as a three-act opéra comique for
14496-407: The most complete and living character. The unmistakable solemnity of his airs, which expresses so eloquently the moral grandeur of this man of the people, as well as his simplicity, the noble nature of his thought, remains striking from the beginning to the end of the opera." Meyerbeer had intended a singing role for the character of Catherine de' Medici , Queen Mother at the time of the massacre, in
14647-445: The musical numbers even marked "The Orgy".) Act 2 is set in sparkling sunshine in the beautiful countryside. Act 3, with near riots between Catholic and Protestant factions, as dusk falls. Act 4, with the plotting to massacre the Protestants, at night, and Act 5, with the actual massacre, in the darkness of the early hours of the morning. In the assessment of music historian David Charlton, Scribe and Meyerbeer in Les Huguenots "created
14798-461: The new regime of Frederick William IV was far more liberal. Spontini was dismissed, and the Berlin premiere of Les Huguenots was arranged (20 May 1842). On the instigation of Alexander von Humboldt, Meyerbeer was installed later in the year as Prussian Generalmusikdirektor and director of music for the Royal Court. Meyerbeer wrote a number of works for court occasions, and also provided music, at
14949-526: The next generation, and which became a major box-office attraction for opera houses all over the world. Hector Berlioz 's contemporary account is full of praise, with 'Meyerbeer in command at the first desk [of violins] [...] from beginning to end I found [the orchestral playing] superb in its beauty and refinement [...] . The immense success of the opera encouraged many musicians, including Franz Liszt and Sigismond Thalberg , to create virtuosic piano works based on its themes. A military slow march based on
15100-403: The night of 23 to 24 August 1572 Wounded, they are finally murdered by St. Bris and his men, he realising only too late that he has killed his own daughter. (Cf. the closing scene of Fromental Halévy 's opera, La Juive , libretto also by Scribe, produced a year earlier than Les Huguenots ). It is at this moment that Marguerite's litter appears. She also recognizes Valentine and tries to stop
15251-401: The nineteenth century. At the same time as his successes in Paris, Meyerbeer, as a Prussian Court Kapellmeister (Director of Music) from 1832, and from 1843 as Prussian General Music Director, was also influential in opera in Berlin and throughout Germany. He was an early supporter of Richard Wagner , enabling the first production of the latter's opera Rienzi . He was commissioned to write
15402-464: The nineteenth century. Born to a wealthy Jewish family , Meyerbeer began his musical career as a pianist but soon decided to devote himself to opera, spending several years in Italy studying and composing. His 1824 opera Il crociato in Egitto was the first to bring him a Europe-wide reputation, but it was Robert le diable (1831) which raised his status to great celebrity. His public career, lasting from then until his death, during which he remained
15553-437: The opera for left hand alone as his Op. 106. Other pieces based on the opera included works by Adolf von Henselt and Jean-Amédée Méreaux . Similar works, of varying musical quality, were churned out by composers for each of the further operas in attempts to cash in on their success. Meyerbeer's operas consistently enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, and the verdict of (the then pro-Meyerbeer) Wagner in 1841, when
15704-590: The opera was not ready, Véron claimed his 30,000 francs under this clause; Meyerbeer was perhaps unique amongst composers in being able to pay this. In fact, Véron refunded the money under a further agreement, when the opera was delivered in late 1834; but Veron himself was replaced as director of the Opera by Henri Duponchel before Les Huguenots was premiered on 29 February 1836. It was an immediate and immense success, its splendid staging and effects exceeding even those of Fromental Halévy 's La Juive , which had premiered
15855-422: The opera were its lavish orchestral forces (extending to two onstage military bands in the final act). The grandiosity of the work reflected the need to make an impact on the sophisticated and technologically advanced stages of London and Paris, for which it was extensively rewritten. Meyerbeer's contribution was revealed at this stage to be the combination of Italian vocal lines, German orchestration and harmony, and
16006-410: The opéra-comique Le portefaix to a libretto by Scribe, which he had been contracted to compose in early 1831; but Véron insisted on a full five-act piece. Together with Scribe, Meyerbeer reviewed many subjects before deciding, in 1832, on Les Huguenots . The contract which Meyerbeer signed with Véron contained a penalty clause if the work was not delivered by the end of 1833. When the time came and
16157-514: The part of Marcel, one of the most striking and original characters in the piece. Meyerbeer also accepted the advice of star tenor Adolphe Nourrit, chosen to create the part of Raoul, to expand the love duet in Act 4, which became one of the most famous numbers in the opera. Les Huguenots was premiered by the Paris Opera at the Salle Le Peletier on 29 February 1836 (conductor: François Habeneck ), and
16308-536: The patriotic opera Ein Feldlager in Schlesien to celebrate the reopening of the Berlin Royal Opera House in 1844, and he wrote music for certain Prussian state occasions. Apart from around 50 songs, Meyerbeer wrote little except for the stage. The critical assaults of Wagner and his supporters, especially after Meyerbeer's death, led to a decline in the popularity of his works; his operas were suppressed by
16459-621: The pay gap between male and female singers. Nordica raised funds for the women’s suffrage movement by giving concerts. She spoke from an open streetcar in San Francisco, encouraging women to vote, one day before the vote for the women’s right in California. In 1910, Nordica wrote a full page article for the New York Times . In this, she championed the Women's Suffrage cause. Nordica nearly missed
16610-464: The pioneering development[s]...that Meyerbeer's operas were the first to demand. Meyerbeer was always concerned to intensify the theatricality of his operas, even when new ideas emerged at a relatively late stage in the music's composition. An example of his receptiveness was the addition of the provocative "Ballet of the Nuns" in the third act of Robert le diable , at the suggestion of Duponchel. The set for
16761-578: The prelude to Les Huguenots is played every year during the ceremony of Trooping the Colour at Horse Guards Parade in London . Notes Sources Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer ; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner ". With his 1831 opera Robert le diable and its successors, he gave
16912-403: The previous year. Berlioz called the score "a musical encyclopaedia", and the singing, especially of Nourrit and Falcon, was universally praised. Les Huguenots was the first opera to be performed at the Opéra more than 1,000 times (the 1,000th performance being on 16 May 1906) and continued to be produced up to 1936, more than a century after its premiere. Its many performances in all other of
17063-404: The public humiliation inflicted on her by Raoul she still loves him and returns to the chapel. Raoul, Saint-Bris and their witnesses arrive for the duel, each confident of success (Septet: "En mon bon droit j’ai confiance") . Marcel calls for assistance from the Huguenot soldiers in the tavern on the right and Saint-Bris to the Catholic students in the tavern on the left and a near-riot ensues. Only
17214-610: The public, which included on that night Auber , Berlioz , Halévy , Maria Malibran , Giulia Grisi , Honoré Daumier , Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo . On hearing her in the role, Meyerbeer himself declared his opera at last 'complete'. The success of the opera led to Meyerbeer himself becoming a celebrity. In January 1832 he was awarded membership of the Légion d'honneur . This success – coupled with Meyerbeer's known family wealth – inevitably also precipitated envy amongst his peers. Berlioz – who had commented that 'Meyerbeer not only had
17365-490: The religious strife plaguing France by remaining in the beautiful countryside (Cabaletta: A ce mot seul s’anime et renaît la nature ).Valentine enters and reports that Nevers has agreed to break the engagement, which delights Marguerite as, knowing that Valentine has fallen in love with Raoul de Nangis, she is sure that she will be able to persuade Valentine's father, the Catholic Saint-Bris, to allow his daughter to marry
17516-405: The rich fabric of his musical poem". Meyerbeer used a variety of novel and unusual orchestral effects in the opera. Marcel's utterances are usually accompanied by two cellos and a double bass. The composer revived an archaic instrument, the viola d'amore, which had fallen into complete disuse in the 19th century, for Raoul's aria "Plus blanche que la blanche hermine" and used the bass clarinet for
17667-463: The role. Meyerbeer lodged the score with a Parisian lawyer, and refused to countenance any production until his wishes were met. Only in 1849 was the Opéra willing to agree to his conditions. Meyerbeer was unique in his time in having the wealth and influence to impose his will as a composer in this way. In the meantime, the situation in Prussia was changing. Following the death of Frederick William III ,
17818-440: The same year, his opera Die beiden Kalifen (The Two Caliphs ) , a version of Wirth und Gast , was a disastrous failure in Vienna. Realizing that a full understanding of Italian opera was essential for his musical development, he went to study in Italy, enabled by the financial support of his family. He arrived in Italy at the beginning of 1816, after visits to Paris and London, where he heard Cramer play. In Paris, he wrote to
17969-403: The scene and its squabbles of Catholics and Protestants interrupted by gypsy dancers and fortune-tellers, reminiscent of episodes from Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris (1831). Letellier has also written of the masterly way Scribe's libretto moves from light to darkness. Act 1 is set in the daytime, in the hedonistic surroundings of a chateau belonging to a pleasure-loving Catholic noble (with one of
18120-430: The scene of the blessing of the daggers in Act 4, but the state censorship would not permit a royal personage to be depicted in such an unfavourable light. Victor Hugo , in his preface to Cromwell (1827), called for the introduction of local colour into historical dramas. For music critic Robert Letellier , this request is perfectly met by Act 3 of Les Huguenots , with its strolling promenaders of all classes setting
18271-466: The sensational success of Robert le diable , recognising the need to continue to present lavish staging, a highly dramatic storyline, impressive orchestration and virtuoso parts for the soloists – the essential elements of the new genre of Grand Opera. Meyerbeer and his librettist for Robert le Diable , Eugène Scribe, had agreed to collaborate on an epic work concerning the French Wars of Religion , with
18422-418: The ship departing Sydney after her 1913 Australian concert tour, but wired the captain asking him to wait for her. It would prove to be a fatal mistake. The Tasman hit a coral reef , where it remained for three days, and Nordica suffered hypothermia (exposure), from which she never recovered. She was taken to Thursday Island, Queensland , where she was hospitalised for some time. There, Nordica befriended
18573-472: The song is no longer heard: all were massacred. At the height of exaltation, Marcel thinks he hears the march of angels leading the martyrs to God. Valentine and Raoul share this vision of heaven 'with six harps'. (Trio: "Ah ! voyez ! Le ciel s’ouvre et rayonne !") . Catholic soldiers enter the cemetery, seize Raoul, Valentine and Marcel and drag them away, wounding all three, after they refuse to abjure their faith. Scene 3: A street in Paris, on
18724-518: The sounds of singing birds and running brooks. When she was eight her family moved to Boston , Massachusetts to continue the musical education of her sister Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina died before her 18th birthday. Family hopes were then pinned on Lillian, and her musical education began soon thereafter. She trained as a singer in Boston, graduating from the New England Conservatory in that city at
18875-457: The stage, other lords are playing dice, cup and ball,etc. Nevers, Tavannes, Cossé, Retz, Thoré, Méru and other Catholic lords look at them and talk to each other The Catholic Count of Nevers is entertaining his fellow noblemen. Their host informs them that before they can go to dinner, they must await the arrival of Raoul, a young Huguenot sent to them from the King in an effort to reconcile Protestant and Catholic. Raoul enters, very impressed with
19026-462: The surroundings and to be in the company of the noblemen. Lavish dishes of food and copious supplies of wine are brought in and the nobles encourage Raoul to drink ( L’orgie: "Bonheur de la table") . The Count of Nevers announces that he has just become engaged and that he must now give up his mistresses. However, he invites his guests to describe the ones they are in love with and asks the latest arrival, Raoul de Nangis. Raoul then tells how he rescued
19177-447: The synagogue at Paris. Meyerbeer died in Paris on 2 May 1864. Rossini, who, not having heard the news, came to his apartment the next day intending to meet him, was shocked and fainted. He was moved to write on the spot a choral tribute ( Pleure, pleure, muse sublime! ). A special train bore Meyerbeer's body from the Gare du Nord to Berlin on 6 May, where he was buried in the family vault at
19328-444: The theatre-going rabble." George Sand at first refused to attend a performance of the opera, saying that she did not want to watch Catholics and Protestants slit each other's throats to music written by a Jew. When eventually she did see the piece, however, she was overwhelmed and wrote to Meyerbeer that "Though you are a musician, you are more a poet than any of us!" and called the opera "an evangel of love". Franz Liszt observed of
19479-488: The time of the suit, probably having been killed in a balloon accident. Her second marriage was in 1896 to a Hungarian tenor named Zoltán Döhme. He took the title role in Parsifal at Bayreuth in 1894. She obtained a divorce from him in 1904. Her third marriage was in 1909 to a wealthy New York banker, George W. Young, but it also proved unhappy. Nordica was also a vocal supporter of women’s rights. She spoke out against
19630-521: The use of contemporary theatrical techniques, ideas which he carried forward in Robert and his later works. However Meyerbeer's background in the Italian operatic traditions can be clearly seen as late as 1859 in the 'mad scene' in Dinorah (the virtuoso aria Ombre légère ). Typical of Meyerbeer's innovative orchestration is the use in Robert le diable of dark-toned instruments – bassoons , timpani and low brass, including ophicleide – to characterise
19781-447: The walls. In the background, a large door and a large Gothic cross. On the left, a door that leads to Valentine's bedroom. On the right, a big chimney, and near the chimney the entrance to a room closed by a tapestry. On the right, and in the foreground, a window overlooking the street. Valentine, alone, expresses her sorrow at being married to Nevers when she is really in love with Raoul (Air: "Parmi les pleurs mon rêve se ranime") . She
19932-623: The world's major opera houses give it a claim to being the most successful opera of the 19th century. However, in Berlin Meyerbeer faced many problems, including the enmity of the jealous Gaspare Spontini , who since 1820 had been Court Kapellmeister and director of the Berlin Hofoper . Complaints were made in the Berlin press about the delay of the Berlin premiere of Robert le diable (which finally took place in June 1832), and Meyerbeer's music
20083-484: The young Protestant as a step towards ending sectarian strife. Marguerite's entourage of ladies enter dressed for bathing. This leads to a ballet during which the page Urbain attempts to spy on the scantily clad ladies as they frolic in the water. Urbain laughingly describes the journey of Raoul, blindfolded, to the castle (Rondeau: "Non, non, non, vous n’avez jamais, je gage") He enters and the Queen tells her ladies to leave him alone with her. With his sight restored, Raoul
20234-512: Was a leader of the Berlin Jewish community and maintained a private synagogue in his house which leaned towards reformist views. Jacob Beer wrote an early cantata for performance at this synagogue. Both Judah Herz Beer and his wife were close to the Prussian court; when Amalia was awarded in 1816 the Order of Louise , she was given, by Royal dispensation, not the traditional Cross but a portrait bust of
20385-493: Was also in close contact with Ludwig van Beethoven as he played timpani at the premiere of his Seventh Symphony in December 1813. Beethoven complained that Meyerbeer was “always behind the beat”. But nonetheless, Beethoven saw musical potential on the young Beer. Throughout his early career, although determined to become a musician, Beer found it difficult to decide between playing and composition. Certainly, other professionals in
20536-602: Was always equivocal about his loyalties between Judaism and Christianity, and always short of money, asked Meyerbeer to intervene with Heine's own family for financial support and frequently took loans and money from Meyerbeer himself. He was not above threatening Meyerbeer with blackmail by writing satirical pieces about him (and indeed Meyerbeer paid Heine's widow to suppress such writings). And yet, at Heine's death in 1856, Meyerbeer wrote in his diary: 'Peace be to his ashes. I forgive him from my heart for his ingratitude and many wickednesses against me.' Meyerbeer did not operate on
20687-406: Was an episode in the life of Frederick the Great . As this patriotic opera 'needed' Prussian creators, Meyerbeer arranged that whilst the trusted Scribe would write the libretto, Rellstab would translate it and take the credit (and the royalties). This had the added advantage of winning over the formerly hostile Rellstab. Meyerbeer had hoped to have Jenny Lind (for whom he had written the part) sing
20838-567: Was an immediate success. Both Adolphe Nourrit and Cornélie Falcon were particularly praised by the critics for their singing and performances. It was indeed Falcon's last important creation before her voice so tragically failed in April of the following year. Hector Berlioz called the score "a musical encyclopedia". Les Huguenots was the first opera to be performed at the Opéra more than 1,000 times (the 1,000th performance being on 16 May 1906) and continued to be produced regularly up to 1936, more than
20989-448: Was based in Berlin (she did not enjoy Paris) as was his beloved mother; and he had a series of Royal duties from the Prussian court, stemming from his appointment as Court Kapellmeister in 1832. For these reasons his life from 1830 onwards is characterised by travel between these two centres. In Paris Meyerbeer had been asked by Louis Véron , the director of the Opéra, for a new work. At first, he attempted to persuade Véron to accept
21140-414: Was close to the ideas of his teacher Vogler, himself renowned for his dramatic depictions of nature and incidents in keyboard music, who wrote in 1779 that: "writing beautifully is easy; expression is not too difficult; but only the genius of a great painter...can choose for each picture agreeable and natural colours that are particular to it." Indeed, Meyerbeer's devotion to the voice often led him to ignore
21291-889: Was decried by the critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab . There was no sign of the German opera expected from Meyerbeer. Moreover, reactionary censorship laws prevented the production of Les Huguenots in Berlin (and indeed in many other cities of Germany). Nevertheless, Meyerbeer, who (as he wrote to a friend) 'years ago...swore to myself never to respond personally to attacks on my work, and never under any circumstances to cause or respond to personal polemics', refused to be drawn on any of these matters. Meanwhile, in Paris Meyerbeer began to seek new libretti, initially considering Le prophète by Scribe, and Le cinq mars by Henri Saint-Georges and eventually settling on Scribe's Vasco da Gama (later to become L'Africaine ), which he contracted to complete by 1840. However, Meyerbeer had envisaged that
21442-450: Was due to his bribing musical critics. Richard Wagner (see below) accused him of being interested only in money, not music. Meyerbeer was, however, a deeply serious musician and a sensitive personality. He philosophically resigned himself to being a victim of his own success: his extensive diaries and correspondence – which survived the turmoil of 20th-century Europe and have now been published in eight volumes – are an invaluable source for
21593-455: Was however virtually washed away in the tide of Wagner in Paris after 1890 (see below). The influence of Meyerbeer has also been detected in the operas of Antonín Dvořák and other Czech composers, and in the operas of Russian composers including Rimsky-Korsakov and the young Tchaikovsky , who thought Les Huguenots 'one of the greatest works in the repertoire'. Themes from Meyerbeer's works were used by many contemporary composers, often in
21744-518: Was often called 'the night of the seven stars', as the cast would include Lillian Nordica , Nellie Melba , Sofia Scalchi , Jean de Reszke , Édouard de Reszke , Victor Maurel and Pol Plançon . The opera was performed in Italian at the Met in the 19th century as Gli Ugonotti . In the Soviet Union , the opera was given a new libretto as Dekabristy , about the historical Decembrists . As with Meyerbeer's other operas, Les Huguenots lost favor in
21895-474: Was one of the spurs to his spiteful anti-Jewish denunciation of Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn, Das Judenthum in der Musik (1850). Increasing ill health (or possibly hypochondria ) now began to restrict Meyerbeer's output and activities. The death of his beloved mother in 1854 was also a blow. However, the success of L'étoile du nord in 1854 demonstrated that he could still pack the theatres. Following this he began on two new projects, an opera by Scribe based on
22046-504: Was prepared to use unstintingly. (See, for instance, Michael Scott, The Record of Singing , Volume One, pp. 38–40.) An adventurous artist, she embraced an enormously varied repertoire which included, among many other works, Aida , Wagner's Ring Cycle (as Brünnhilde), Tristan und Isolde , Lohengrin , La traviata , Il trovatore , La Gioconda , Faust , Les Huguenots , Mignon and Le nozze di Figaro . Nordica established her worldwide reputation as an opera singer of
22197-479: Was probably the originator of the 'press conference' at which journalists were fed refreshments and information. This marketing and commercialisation of opera was reinforced by Meyerbeer's Paris publisher Maurice Schlesinger who had established his fortune on the back of Robert , and even persuaded Honoré de Balzac to write a novella ( Gambara ) to promote Les Huguenots . Schlesinger's publication of Franz Liszt 's Reminiscences de Robert le diable sold out on
22348-424: Was regularly subject to antisemitic hostility throughout his life (see below), warning his brothers frequently in his letters against richess ( Yiddish for 'Jew-hatred'). Writing to Heinrich Heine in 1839, he offered a sobering view: I believe that richess is like love in the theatres and novels: no matter how often one encounters it...it never misses its target if effectively wielded...[Nothing] can grow back
22499-686: Was sometimes staged under different titles such as The Guelfs and the Ghibellines (in Vienna before 1848), Renato di Croenwald in Rome, or The Anglicans and the Puritans (in Munich), to avoid inflaming religious tensions among its audiences. Les Huguenots was chosen to open the present building of the Covent Garden Theatre in 1858. During the 1890s, when it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera , it
22650-516: Was the last opera ever written to feature a castrato , and the last to require keyboard accompaniment for recitatives . This 'breakthrough' in Paris was exactly what Meyerbeer had been aiming for over the past ten years; he had been carefully preparing for it, developing contacts, and fully reaped his reward. In 1826, shortly after the death of his father, Meyerbeer married his cousin, Minna Mosson (1804–1886). The marriage which may have been 'dynastic' in its origins turned out to be stable and devoted;
22801-416: Was to prove one of the opera's great sensations, becoming an early example of the ballet blanc genre. He also rewrote the two major male roles of Bertrand and Robert to suit the talents of Nicolas Levasseur and Adolphe Nourrit , respectively. At the invitation of Nourrit, Cornélie Falcon made her debut at the age of 18 at the Opéra in the role of Alice on 20 July 1832, and she made a vivid impression on
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