Giacomo Meyerbeer[n 1] (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".[1] With his 1831 opera Robert le diable and its successors, he gave the genre of grand opera 'decisive character'.[2] 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 which helped to maintain Paris as the opera capital of 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 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.'[3] 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 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 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 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.
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^Brzoska (2015), §Introduction
^Meyerbeer & Letellier (1999–2004) I, 15 (Foreword by Heinz Becker)
GiacomoMeyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer...
The following is a list of operas by GiacomoMeyerbeer (1791–1864). Notes Becker (1980), 246 Letellier, pp. 24-25. Letellier, 50. Letellier, 57. Huebner...
Mussolini Giacomo Medici (general) (1817–1882), Italian patriot and soldier GiacomoMeyerbeer (1791–1864), German-born opera composer Giacomo Nizzolo (born...
the advent of grand opera typified by the works of Daniel Auber and GiacomoMeyerbeer as well as Carl Maria von Weber's introduction of German Romantische...
angloconcertina.org/files/ConcertinasatSea1.pdf GiacomoMeyerbeer (1 January 2002). The Diaries of GiacomoMeyerbeer: The years of celebrity, 1850-1856. Fairleigh...
le diable (Robert the Devil) is an opera in five acts composed by GiacomoMeyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written in French by Eugène Scribe...
Les Huguenots (French pronunciation: [le ˈyg(ə)no]) is an opera by GiacomoMeyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera...
(Bernstein) Dalinda, Ariodante (Handel) Dinorah, Le pardon de Ploërmel (GiacomoMeyerbeer) Dorinda, Orlando (Handel) Elisa, Il re pastore (Mozart) Elizabeth...
composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and GiacomoMeyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk...
Ploërmel), is an 1859 French opéra comique in three acts with music by GiacomoMeyerbeer and a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. The story takes...
the Inno delle nazioni. Boito, as a supporter of the grand opera of GiacomoMeyerbeer and an opera composer in his own right, was later in the 1860s critical...
crociato in Egitto (The Crusader in Egypt) is an opera in two acts by GiacomoMeyerbeer, with a libretto by Gaetano Rossi. It was first performed at La Fenice...
marches include: Michael Haydn: Marcia tuchesca in C major (1795) GiacomoMeyerbeer: Wirt und Gast, oder Aus Scherz Ernst, Act II: Türkischer Marsch Mikhail...
a banker and astronomer from Berlin, Prussia, and the brother of GiacomoMeyerbeer. Beer's fame derives from his hobby, astronomy. He built a private...
(1785–1849) Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826) Johann Peter Pixis (1788–1874) GiacomoMeyerbeer (1791–1864) Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861) Johann Carl Gottfried Löwe...
it discusses the music of Jewish composers Felix Mendelssohn and GiacomoMeyerbeer, acknowledging its technical proficiency but criticizing it as lacking...
instituted the tradition of regular symphonic concerts. In the same year, GiacomoMeyerbeer succeeded Gaspare Spontini as General Music Director. Felix Mendelssohn...
one by Metastasio, which Rossi used for Semiramide riconosciuta by GiacomoMeyerbeer. now usually 1 act Rossini and Adolphe Crémieux have also been credited...
sometimes somewhat cool, terms with Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, and GiacomoMeyerbeer, but in his letters expresses his frank disapproval of their works...
Il crociato in Egitto by GiacomoMeyerbeer (2007) - Video Live recording on DVD - Dynamic Robert le Diable by GiacomoMeyerbeer (2012) - Live recording...
pianists, including John Field, Johann Baptist Cramer, Ignaz Moscheles, GiacomoMeyerbeer, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and Carl Czerny. He...
Portici) in 1828, which paved the way for the large-scale works of GiacomoMeyerbeer. Auber held two important official musical posts. From 1842 to 1871...
the originality of its orchestration. 1831 Robert le diable (GiacomoMeyerbeer). Meyerbeer's first Grand Opera for Paris caused a sensation with its ballet...
Philippe de Rothschild married Nelly Beer, a great-grandniece of GiacomoMeyerbeer Richard Francis Roger Yarde-Buller, 4th Baron Churston of Churston...