MEYERBEER AT LONDON'S COVENT GARDEN
by Clarissa Lablache
A friend wrote: "As we admire Puccini's melodies and criticise his lack of development, can we not allow a similar balance for his German or French predecessor? Meyerbeer; who wrote wonderfully well for the voices of his day and for the audiences and stage of his land. If we cannot cast and will not stage his operas today, I will not blame him for our failings."
Giacomo Meyerbeer contribution to Grand French Opera would be impossible to measure. Historically, he was the most important Jewish operatic composer of his time. His operas composed in the grand style endured, and succeeded for fifty years or so after his death. Between the time Meyerbeer entered the Paris scene and his death, he successfully launched many masterpieces, and introduced a new sumptuousness hitherto unheard of in the Italian opera-house. Centered in Paris his first conquest came in 1831 with Robert le diable; this triumph was soon overtaken in 1836 by Les Huguenots. Later came Le Prophete, Dinorah, L'Etoile du Nord and L'Aficaine.
France and England drew closer together during Meyerbeer's popularity. France in the 1850s supported England in the Crimea War against Russia. When Meyerbeer became the rage in England, other countries followed suit. Even America was influenced by the British and French operatic and theatrical trends, well into this century. Meyerbeer's operas swept across the Americas in the last century, rivaling the popular Italian operas, and the works of Richard Wagner.
In Harold Rosenthal's Two Centuries of Opera at Covent Garden I rechecked the impressive listings on Meyerbeer, just a rough record covering the years from 1848-1912 in Britain. After Meyerbeer wrote Ein Feldlager in Schlesien for Jenny Lind in Berlin, she reaped another great success at Her Majesty's Theatre, not Covent Garden, as Alice in Robert le diable , in 1849, one of the most opera filled years in history.
It seems lately there have been in several comments in quite respected circles that we must ignore. I strongly disagree with statements that have said that Meyerbeer and his operas have no validity? or can't be taken seriously by todays standards- I feel that shows a gross misunderstanding. Meyerbeer proved he held his own, even against Verdi and Wagner. By the turn of the century, before World War I, the school of verismo was firmly entrenched, following the realistic school of acting in the theater, subject matter changed, then films came in. It was only then, that finally Meyerbeer's " Medieval Times recreations," with knights in shining armor lost their appeal.
YEAR BY YEAR
1848 HUGUENOTS [10]
1849 HUGUENOTS [12] LE PROPHETE [10] ROBERT [2]
1850 HUGUENOTS [12] PROPHETE [10] ROBERT [6]
1851 HUGUENOTS [9] ROBERT [7] PROPHETE [7]
1852 HUGUENOTS [11] ROBERT [3] PROPHETE [9]
1853 HUGUENOTS[8]PROPHETE [5] ROBERT [4]
1854 HUGUENOTS [5] PROPHETE [5]
1855 ETOILE DU NORD [9]HUGUENOTS[4] PROPHETE[2]
1856-57 no season
1858 HUGUENOTS [8] 1859 HUGUENOTS [7]
1859 DINORAH [6] DINORAH [46]
1860 DINORAH [6] HUGUENOTS [6] PROPHETE[8]
1861 DINORAH [4] HUGUENOTS [3] PROPHETE [10]
1862 DINORAH [3]HUGUENOTS [5] PROPHETE [8] ROBERT [8]
1862 DINORAH [11]
1863 HUGUENOTS [3] PROPHETE [3] ROBERT [3]
1864 ETOILE[4]HUGUENOTS[2] ROBERT[2] PROPHETE[4]
1865 AFRICAINE [35] HUGUENOTS[7] ETOILE [4] PROPHETE [4]
1866 AFRICAINE [8] ETOILE[3] HUGUENOTS [2] PROPHETE[4]
1867 AFRICAINE [7]
1868 AFRICAINE [3] HUGUENOTS[4] ROBERT [4]
1868 DINORAH [2] HUGUENOTS[2]
1869 DINORAH [3] HUGUENOTS [4] PROPHETE[2] ROBERT[1]
1869 HUGUENOTS [3] ROBERT[2]
1870 AFRICAINE [2] DINORAH [2] ETOILE [2] HUGUENOTS [3]
1870 HUGUENOTS[2] ROBERT [1]
1871 AFRICAINE[3] DINORAH[4] ETOILE[5] HUGUENOTS [4]
1871 HUGUENOTS [2] ROBERT[1]
1872 AFRICAINE[ 2] DINORAH[3] ETOILE [3] HUGUENOTS[4]
1873 AFRICAINE [5] DINORAH [2] ETOILE[2] HUGUENOTS [3]
1874 AFRICAINE [3] DINORAH [3] ETOILE[3] ROBERT[2]
1875 AFRICAINE[3] DINORAH[3] ETOILE[3] HUGUENOTS [4] ROBERT[1]
1876 AFRICAINE[2] DINORAH[2] HUGUENOTS[2]
1877 DINORAH [3] ETOILE [2] HUGUENOTS [5]
1878 AFRICAINE[1] DINORAH [2] ETOILE [2] HUGUENOTS [5] PROPHETE
[3]
What an impressive record.
The chronology continues the same through the 1880s, but by 1900 Wagner and the verismo operas have taken over with a vengeance. Les Huguenots remained only for a while, coming back at intervals. In 1908, 1909,1910, 1911, 1912, and then it vanished from Covent Garden. Except in 1926 there was a comeback and again in the 1990s. Of course Covent Garden was not the only theatre to open its doors to Meyerbeer, when Her Majesty's reopened after a fire, Meyerbeer occupied the stage there for a great many years. Also he was amazingly popular with the public when Mapleson and Her Majesty's Opera and other British touring companies traveled all over the British provinces to Ireland and the Americas.
In conclusion it could be said there was an impressive Meyerbeer dynasty. From his first opera in 1812, for one hundred years to about 1912 , his operas reigned supreme. Doesn't that gives him equal footing with many of the verismo operas we love today? His success could still be created again by a production matching the work's nature.
Clarissa Lablache
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