Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/503

MEYERBEER 485 in Darmstadt Meyerbeer composed an oratorio, Gott und die Natur, which was received with great favor by the grand ducal family, and caused him to be appointed composer to the court. After about-two years' study he set out on a tour through Germany, in company with Vogler, under whose auspices he produced his opera " Jephthah " at Munich in 1812. This, on account of its scientific precision, gave so much satisfaction to his teacher, that he pro- nounced him to have reached the climax of musical science, and handed him his official diploma as "maestro:" But "Jephthah" had no elements of popularity, and was considered a failure. Discouraged by this reception, and at the same time impressed by the genius of Hummel, Meyerbeer now made his d6but as a pianist at Vienna, with brilliant success. The court of Vienna commissioned him to compose an opera, and he soon produced Die beiden Khalifen, which was no more successful than "Jephthah," both operas being totally oppo- site to the popular taste, which at that time was delighted with the productions of Rossini and Italian music generally. His friend Salieri prevailed upon him to visit Italy. Meyerbeer on his arrival there witnessed the performance of Rossini's "Tancred," and his enthusiasm for the Italian school now became as great as his aversion for it had formerly been. He be- gan to imitate the Italian style, and composed in rapid succession a series of operas, which were almost all favorably received. His Ro- milda e Costanza was performed in Padua in 1818; his Semiramide riconosciuta, after Me- tastasio, in Turin in 1819; and his Emma di Resburgo, based upon the same subject as Mehul's " Helen," in Venice in 1820, in the same season with Rossini's Eduardo e Cris- tina, the productions of the German and Ital- ian masters receiving the same share of enthu- siastic applause. "Emma" was translated into German and performed in the principal opera houses of his native country. In the mean time it had been received' with great en- thusiasm by the fastidious audiences of the Scala in Milan, and paved the way for the fa- vorable reception there of his next opera, "Margaret of Anjou" (1822), in which Le- vasseur made his debut on the Italian stage. This was succeeded by ISEsule di Oranata (1823), the principal parts of which were written for Lablache and Pisaroni. But the procrastination in its performance, which did not take place before the carnival of that year, proved fatal to its reception. The first act was hissed, and the second would have shared the same fate but for a duet admirably sung by Lablache and Pisaroni. Subsequently the opera proved successful. "Almanzor" was also composed in 1822, and intended for the opera of Rome ; but owing to the illness of Carolina Bassi, who was to take the prin- cipal part, it was never brought out. The Crociato was given in Venice at the end of 1825, and at the close of the performance Meyerbeer was called before the curtain and crowned amid the plaudits of the audience. He now made the tour of the different Italian cities, to attend personally to the production of his works. The Crociato may be taken as the best and most individual of his productions up to that time, the style of which had been marked by a successive improvement, and formed a turning point in Meyerbeer's career. M. de La Rochefoucauld invited him to Paris (1826), where the Crociato was received with considerable favor, and Paris was henceforth his headquarters. In 1826 he composed Robert le diable, which he sold in July, 1830, to M. Lubbert, director of the grand opera, and which made the fortune of his successor, M. Veron. After many rehearsals it was at length brought out in November, 1831. The excite- ment it created was unparalleled in the history of the Parisian stage. It combined in a sin- gular degree oriental gorgeousness, German thoughtfulness, French vivacity, and Italian brilliancy, and exhibited a breadth and depth of talent for which the preceding works of the composer, with the exception of some parts of the Crociato, had hardly prepared the public. The enthusiasm which greeted it in Paris was shared by nearly all Europe, but it found per- haps more admirers in Germany and France than in other countries, and never fully re- ceived recognition in England. The Germans especially were fascinated by an opera which in some respects reminded them of Goethe's " Faust," and which combined in so remark- able a degree the convivial, picturesque, pa- thetic, and supernatural elements. The most popular airs were soon transferred from the stage to the streets, and sung in the taverns. Jenny Lind won her brightest laurels in Lon- don by her personification of Alice, and Formes invested Bertram with an intellectuality almost equalling that of Goethe's Mephistopheles. The melodies of " Robert," the best produced by Meyerbeer, are in the main formed upon the style of Rossini, with certain changes. It has Weber's supernaturalism and the developed orchestration of the period, with the exten- sions proper to a long subject fully handled. The keen and subtle intellectuality of the com- poser is revealed throughout the whole work in his effort to make it in every sense accepta- ble to Parisian audiences. Hence his adoption of the extended musico-dramatical form, so popular in France ; his attention to effective contrasts and sequences, which the French dramatists and lyrical composers treat with such consummate skill ; his introduction of a vast range and variety of scenic accessories; the sonority of the orchestra, so much insisted upon at the grand opera ; and the selection of a libretto by Scribe, which rivets the attention of the audience through the whole of five long acts, without for a moment abating in interest. Meyerbeer reached the climax of his fame by his opera Les Huguenots. The admiration which this work elicited on its first appearance