Giacomo Meyerbeer: L’Africaine (1865 Posthumous)
There was once an operatic composer whose works dominated the opera house in Paris and all over Europe in the nineteenth century, and whose operas were performed regularly even fifty years after his death. The genius of the musical legacy he left behind had influenced composers like Donizetti, Wagner and many others. It is daunting to realize that a composer who achieved such great success and became extremely popular with his grand opera would fall out of favor in today’s world.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1865) was a German composer born into a wealthy Jewish family in Berlin, a lifestyle which allowed him to pursuit his passion for music as a career. He studied piano and composition at a young age and was deemed a prodigy by many musicians. He travelled on his reputation to Italy for further study. During his travels, he realized his main compositional interest was in French opera, a discovery which led him to Paris in 1824 to embark on a new career. His Grand Operas, including “Robert Diable” (1831), “Les Huguenots” (1836), “Le Prophète” (1849) and “L'Africaine” (1865) established him as the model of operatic style of the century. He was a phenomenon, the most performed opera composer of the Romantic period.
There was once an operatic composer whose works dominated the opera house in Paris and all over Europe in the nineteenth century, and whose operas were performed regularly even fifty years after his death. The genius of the musical legacy he left behind had influenced composers like Donizetti, Wagner and many others. It is daunting to realize that a composer who achieved such great success and became extremely popular with his grand opera would fall out of favor in today’s world.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1865) was a German composer born into a wealthy Jewish family in Berlin, a lifestyle which allowed him to pursuit his passion for music as a career. He studied piano and composition at a young age and was deemed a prodigy by many musicians. He travelled on his reputation to Italy for further study. During his travels, he realized his main compositional interest was in French opera, a discovery which led him to Paris in 1824 to embark on a new career. His Grand Operas, including “Robert Diable” (1831), “Les Huguenots” (1836), “Le Prophète” (1849) and “L'Africaine” (1865) established him as the model of operatic style of the century. He was a phenomenon, the most performed opera composer of the Romantic period.
Meyerbeer began working on 'L'Africaine' in 1837, but continuously revised the work, only completing it during his last year of life. 'L'Africaine' is characterized by its large orchestration, vast casts, and extravagant staging, which is an exemplary of Grand Opera during this period. The libretto, written by Eugene Scriber, takes place in early sixteen-century Portugal and tells a story of complicated and lavish human relationships and of hatred towards Christians. The story centers on Vasco de Gama, a naval officer, who is on an expedition to the New World. His beloved fiancée, Inès, waited desperately for him back home in Portugal while his future father-in-law, the admiral Don Diego, worked against the marriage because he wanted her to marry Don Pédro instead. During his expedition, de Gama has two servants; Sélika, who grew feelings towards him, and Nélusko, who was jealous of Sélika’s feeling towards Vasco. Nélusko almost killed his master because of his hatred toward Christians and the pain from his unobtainable love. Meanwhile, back home, Don Pédro married Inès, but is soon captured by the natives of Madagascar in a stormy expedition. Vasco and Inès were set free from the captors by Sélika, who committed suicide as she realized that she could not have her love back. Nélusko, who was deeply in love with Sélika, accompanied her in death.
Meyerbeer’s music was very monophonic in texture. He focused on creating tuneful melodies. For examples, often times, the vocal melody would be singing the same as the orchestral backgrounds, or the orchestra would be imitating the vocal lines after it was sung. As a result his music was lacking in dramatic effect which was could be achieved through more dense texture, His musical language was extremely tonal where the dissonant always resolves. This limited his possibilities of creating tension by using the clashes of dissonant to build up the tension. Rarely did he try to develop tension as music progresses. He was, undeniably, a musician with excellent compositional techniques who made creative melodies mostly based on chord tones and from the scales and was an accomplished orchestrator. However, these were very conventional by today’s standards. This will lead us to one of the discussion of why his works were not popular as they were in the nineteenth century.
Meyerbeer seemed to fall victim to what is “correct” instead of being creative. For instance, he used cymbals or rolls of timpani whenever he reached a climax. It became a cliché, obvious and lost its effectiveness. I would definitely want to hear more of his ingenuity because of his brilliant musical talent. In addition, there’s a general lack of interest of Meyerbeer’s music today, which I think has to do with the fact that audiences’ are exposed to so many different sounds now. As a result, Meyerbeer’s music tends to not have universal and emotional appeal these days.
Grand Opera in the nineteenth century was adorned by extravagant stages to cater the bourgeois. People attended the opera not only for the musical experience, but to witness the extravagant spectacles on stage. For example, in the third act of L’Africaine, there was a scene where the shipwreck took place. A large model ship had to be crafted and designed specifically for this scene, which required lots of time, effort, and money from the production crew. It cost a fortune to make these things happen for the opera company. People are less willing to put up this opera today because of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb1LrNA_jOc&feature=related
There’s also a historical reason behind his lack of popularity, which is also the most critical one that contributes to his obscurity: the rise of Nazi government. As Hitler came to power in the 1930s, he came up with the idea of destroying everything that was associated with the Jewish culture. Meyerbeer wrote in Grand Opera style, which was favored by Hitler, but he did not neglect the fact that Meyerbeer was born Jewish. As a result, Meyerbeer’s music was banished from the opera house and it hasn’t been fully revived since.
Despite being highly regarded as the most influential composer of the nineteenth century, Giacomo Meyerbeer did not stand the test of time, whether it is with his musical sensibility or his misfortune after his death. Musically speaking, he was capable of creating appealing melodies, but he was limiting in thematic development or contrapuntal combinations. He had the talent to create uplifting moment in his music, but he fails to provoke deeper emotions through his writing and composition. Historically, his music was not favored by the Anti-Semitic government that came after his time. This stands as a great obstacle for people to rediscover his glory. He was a lucky guy in life, but an unlucky one in the grave.
Burton, Fisher. Meyerbeer's L'Africaine : Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series. Opera Journeys, 2005. Electronic.
