Henceforth Meyerbeer was to belong entirely to France. After having seen
his _Crociato_ played at the _Italien_, he had the satisfaction of seeing
his _Margherita d'Angiù_ translated into French and performed successfully
at the _Odéon_. It was to this last fact that he owed the speedy
gratification of his desire to work for the musical stages of France,
although, owing to an unexpected series of events, he was obliged to await
for several years the representation of his first work, and this work,
written with the _Opéra Comique_ in view, had to be completely transformed
and adapted for the _Opéra_. This is the way it happened.
The subject of the Italian opera of _Margherita d'Angiù_ had been taken
from a French drama, _Marguérite d'Anjou_, played in 1810 at the _Gaité_
theatre, and the author of which was Guilbert de Pièxèrcourt. The two very
naturally made each other's acquaintance, Pièxèrcourt's authorization
being necessary for the representation on a French stage of a foreign
opera whose subject belonged to him. An intimacy sprung up between them,
and Meyerbeer profited by it to ask Pièxèrcourt for a poem to set to
music for the _Opéra Comique_. The latter willingly consented, confided
to him _Robert le Diable_, by Scribe, and the composer immediately set to
work. The rôles of _Robert le Diable_ were to be distributed as follows:
Ponchard (Robert), Huet (Bertram), Mme. Boulanger (Alice) and Mme. Rigaud
(Isabella). Obliged in the meantime to make a trip to Berlin, Meyerbeer
took the poem with him, in order to continue the work during his absence.
But while he was in Germany a little revolution took place at the _Opéra
Comique_ which resulted in Guilbert de Pièxèrcourt being dispossessed
of his office of director. What happened then? All the particulars are
not known, but _Robert_ was withdrawn from the _Opéra Comique_, Scribe
enlarged and transformed his poem, Meyerbeer rewrote his score, and the
work was carried to the _Opéra_. It is easy to understand that all this
occasioned a long delay. But this was not all. The revolution of 1830
occurred, which brought everything to a standstill, and which, after the
change of dynasty at the head of the country, brought about a change in
the management of the _Opéra_, where Lubbert was replaced by the famous
Dr. Véron. The latter hesitated a good deal about mounting so important a
work by a composer as yet little known in France, although he had achieved
great success elsewhere. He finally decided in its favor, however, the
rôles were distributed to Nourrir, Levasseur, Mmes. Dorus-Gras and
Cinti-Damoreau, and _Robert le Diable_ was finally performed Nov. 22, 1831.
However, Meyerbeer was still to grow, and _les Huguenots_, performed at
the _Opéra_, Feb. 21, 1836, was to be the crowning point of his glory. It
should be said that he was admirably served by his collaborator Scribe.
The latter, after having given him the fantastic poem of _Robert_, wrote
for him the the passionate, pathetic and dramatic poem of the _Huguenots_,
which revived at the same time a splendid page of history, in which he
introduced, in the happiest manner, a picturesque element which permitted
the artist to vary his palette and give to each episode a color of its
own. The most diverse and powerful situations abound in this superb poem,
and it is just to declare that Meyerbeer has interpreted them with an
incomparable genius.
After the _Huguenots_ three years passed during which France received
no new work from Meyerbeer. Meanwhile people had much to say about the
_Prophète_; but Meyerbeer, exceptionally anxious about the good execution
of his works, not finding in the _personnel_ of the _Opéra_ at that time
the artists of whom he had dreamed for this work, waited patiently.
Moreover, the office of capellmeister of the king of Prussia, to which he
had been appointed, called him often to Berlin during this period. It was
in this capacity that he composed a grand Italian cantata, _la Festa nella
corte di Ferrara_, which was performed at court in 1843, and a German
opera in three acts, _A Camp in Silesia_, composed for the inauguration of
the new royal theatre of Berlin (Dec. 7, 1844) and which was rather coldly
received. It was at this time also that he published, with French words, a
great number of admirable songs, of which a collection in four volumes has
recently been formed in Paris. It was during this period that he composed
the beautiful music for his brother's drama, _Struensée_, and his first
March (Fackeltanz), performed for the marriage of the princess Wilhelmina
of Prussia with the king of Bavaria.
Finally, on April 16, 1849, the _Prophète_, so long expected, made its
appearance at the Paris _Opéra_, interpreted by Roger (Jean de Leyde),
Levasseur (Jacharie), Mme. Viardot (Fidès) and Mme. Castellan (Bertha).
_Le Pardon de Plöermel_ was the last of Meyerbeer's works brought out
before his death, which occurred at Paris, May 2, 1864. For nearly twenty
years _l'Africaine_ had been under consideration, but the master waited
for this work as he had done for _le Prophète_, until the _personnel_ of
the _Opéra_ could offer him such artists as he deemed necessary for its
proper execution. Meanwhile, he had drawn up instructions relative to this
_Africaine_, which he wished to have carried out after his death. Among
other things he requested that the rôle of Sélika be confided to Mme.
Marie Lasse, and that of Vasco to M. Naudin, whose voice he had admired at
the _Théâtre Italien_. The direction of the _Opéra_ took pains to conform
to this posthumous desire and _l'Africaine_ appeared at this theatre,
under the conditions specified by the composer, April 28, 1865. While
fully taking into account the great value of certain episodes of this
work, it will surely be no violation to Meyerbeer's memory to say that
_l'Africaine_ has added nothing to his glory. Even without _l'Africaine_
he would still have remained one of the most magnificent geniuses that has
illumined the art of the nineteenth century.
[Illustration: TOMB OF THE MEYERBEER FAMILY.