"Robert le Diable" was produced at the Académie Royale in 1831, and
inaugurated the brilliant reign of Dr. Véron as manager. The bold
innovations, the powerful situations, the daring methods of the
composer, astonished and delighted Paris, and the work was performed
more than a hundred consecutive times. The history of "Robert le Diable"
is in some respects curious. It was originally written for the Vontadour
Theatre, devoted to comic opera; but the company were found unable
to sing the difficult music. Meyerbeer was inspired by Weber's "Der
Freischtitz" to attempt a romantic, semi-fantastic legendary opera, and
trod very closely in the footsteps of his model. It was determined to so
alter the libretto and extend and elaborate the music as to fit it for
the stage of the Grand Opera. MM. Scribe and Delavigne, the librettists,
and Meyerbeer, devoted busy days and nights to hurrying on the work. The
whole opera was remodeled, recitative substituted for dialogue, and one
of the most important characters,--Rainibaud, cut out in the fourth and
fifth acts--a suppression which is claimed to have befogged a very clear
and intelligible plot. Highly suggestive in its present state of Weber's
opera, the opera of "Robert le Diable" is said to have been marvelously
similar to "Der Freischtitz" in the original form, though inferior in
dignity of motive.
Paris was all agog with interest at the first production. The critics
had attended the rehearsals, and it was understood that the libretto,
the music, and the ballet were full of striking interest. Nourrit
played the part of _Robert_; Levasseur, _Bertram_; Mme. Cinti Damoreau,
_Isabelle_; and Mile. Dorus, _Alice_. The greatest dancers of the
age were in the ballet and the brilliant Taglioni led the band of
resuscitated nuns. Ilabeneck was conductor, and everything had been done
in the way of scenery and costumes. The success was a remarkable one,
and Meyerbeer's name became famous throughout Europe.
Dr. Véron, in his "Mémoires d'un Bourgeois de Paris," describes a
thrilling yet ludicrous accident that occurred on the first night's
performance. After the admirable trio, which is the _d'enoûment_ of
the work, Levasseur, who personated Bertram, sprang through the trap
to rejoin the kingdom of the dead, whence he came so mysteriously.
_Robert_, on the other hand, had to remain on the earth, a converted
man, and destined to happiness in marriage with his princess,
_Isabelle_. Nourrit, the _Robert_ of the performance, misled by the
situation and the fervor of his own feelings, threw himself into the
trap, which was not properly set. Fortunately the mattresses beneath had
not all been removed, or the tenor would have been killed, a doom which
those on the stage who saw the accident expected. The audience supposed
it was part of the opera, and the people on the stage were full of
terror and lamentation, when Nourrit appeared to calm their fears.
Mile. Dorus burst into tears of joy, and the audience, recognizing the
situation, broke into shouts of applause.
The opera was brought out in London the same year, with nearly the same
cast, but did not excite so much enthusiasm as in Paris. Lord Mount
Edgcumbe, who represented the connoisseurs of the old school, expressed
the then current opinion of London audiences: "Never did I see a more
disagreeable or disgusting performance. The sight of the resurrection
of a whole convent of nuns, who rise from their graves and begin dancing
like so many bacchantes, is revolting; and a sacred service in a church,
accompanied by an organ on the stage, not very decorous. Neither does
the music of Meyerbeer compensate for a fable which is a tissue of
nonsense and improbability."*
* Yet Lord Mount Edgcumbe is inconsistent enough to be an
ardent admirer of Mozart's "Zauberflote."
M. Véron was so delighted with the great success of "Robert" that he
made a contract with Meyerbeer for another grand opera, "Les Huguenots,"
to be completed by a certain date. Meanwhile, the failing health of Mme.
Meyerbeer obliged the composer to go to Italy, and work on the opera was
deferred, thus causing him to lose thirty thousand francs as the penalty
of his broken contract. At length, after twenty-eight rehearsals, and
an expense of more than one hundred and sixty thousand francs in
preparation, "Les Huguenots" was given to the public, February 26, 1836.
Though this great work excited transports of enthusiasm in Paris, it was
interdicted in many of the cities of Southern Europe on account of the
subject being a disagreeable one to ardent and bigoted Catholics. In
London it has always been the most popular of Meyerbeer's three great
operas, owing perhaps partly to the singing of Mario and Grisi, and more
lately of Titiens and Giuglini.
When Spontini resigned his place as chapel-master at the Court of
Berlin, in 1832, Meyerbeer succeeded him. He wrote much music of an
accidental character in his new position, but a slumber seems to have
fallen on his greater creative faculties. The German atmosphere was not
favorable to the fruitfulness of Meyerbeer's genius. He seems to have
needed the volatile and sparkling life of Paris to excite him into full
activity. Or perhaps he was not willing to produce one of his operas,
with their large dependence on élaborât e splendor of production,
away from the Paris Grand Opera. During Meyerbeer's stay in Berlin he
introduced Jenny Lind to the Berlin public, as he afterward did indeed
to Paris, her _début_ there being made in the opening performance of
"Das Feldlager in Schlesien," afterward remodeled into "L'Étoile du
Nord."
Meyerbeer returned to Paris in 1849, to present the third of his great
operas, "Le Prophète." It was given with Roger, Viardot-Garcia, and
Castellan in the principal characters. Mme. Viardot-Garcia achieved one
of her greatest dramatic triumphs in the difficult part of _Fides_.
In London the opera also met with splendid success, having, as Chorley
tells us, a great advantage over the Paris presentation in "the
remarkable personal beauty of Signor Mario, whose appearance in his
coronation robes reminded one of some bishop-saint in a picture by Van
Eyck or Durer, and who could bring to bear a play of feature without
grimace into the scene of false fascination, entirely beyond the reach
of the clever French artist Roger, who originated the character."
"L'Étoile du Nord" was given to the public February 16, 1854. Up to this
time the opera of "Robert" had been sung three hundred and thirty-three
times, "Les Huguenots" two hundred and twenty-two, and "Le Prophète" a
hundred and twelve. The "Pardon de Ploërmel," also known as "Dinorah,"
was offered to the world of Paris April 4, 1859. Both these operas,
though beautiful, are inferior to his other works.