|
|
|
|
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 - 1864)
TRANSCRIPTION
Mon cher Directeur,
Malgré tous mes efforts il m’a
Je viendrai ce soir au théâtre
Agréez l’expression des Votre tout dévoué J. Meyerbeer Le 3 may 27 » (Thanks to D.B., Paris) TRANSLATION
My dear Director!1 Despite
all my efforts I have found Yours truly,
Your devoted Addressed to:
Mr. Guilbert de Pixérécourt NOTES: 2. "...Saturday..." probably refers to the next weekend (May 19). According to a visitor to this site: "Meyerbeer was working day and night on "Robert le Diable" at the time. One week after this letter was written, Meyerbeer left for Berlin." (Thanks to S.A., April 13, 2003.) 3. "...tonight.." refers to Sunday evening, May 13, 1827, the date this note was written
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Giacomo Meyerbeer was born September 5, 1791 in the town of Vogelsdorf, near Berlin, Germany. His name at birth was Jakob Liebmann Beer. His father was Jakob Herz Beer who owned sugar refineries in Germany and Italy. His mother was Amalia Beer, a Berlin socialite. Her father was Liebmann Meyer Wulf, a successful contractor for Prussia. He was also a respected Jewish leader. Jakob was destined to become one of the world’s great musicians. He fast became known as a child prodigy, and one of the finest pianists in Berlin. His teachers were some of the finest of that time. The master pianist Muzio Clementi taught him piano. He studied composition and counterpoint with the Abbé Vogler in Darmstadt and became friends with composer Carl Maria von Weber. By age 24, Jakob Beer, who now called himself, Giacomo Meyerbeer, the name by which the world would remember him, had composed several promising oratorios and operas in German. At Antonio Salieri’s suggestion, he went to Italy to study vocal composition. Judah Beer, Giacomo’s father, died in 1826. Shortly afterwards, Meyerbeer married his first cousin Minna Mosson. Over the next three years, Minna gave birth to a son and a daughter, but neither survived more than a few months. A pivotal point in his career came in 1831, shortly after the July revolution in France, and the ascendancy of Louis Phillippe to the throne. Meyerbeer’s opera, Robert le Diable, premiered. It was a colossal success by which French Grand Opera was defined for the rest of the nineteenth century. Fétis said of Meyerbeer: "The score of Robert le Diable is not only just M[onsieur] Meyerbeer’s masterpiece; it is a work remarkable in the history of art…it incontestably places M. Meyerbeer at the head of the German school and makes him its chief." In 1842, Meyerbeer was appointed to the post of Director of Music in Berlin after Gaspare Spontini had been dismissed. Throughout his life, he had kept the faith of his fathers before him. His faith made him a victim of anti-Semitism by Richard Wagner. Wagner’s infamous anti-Semitic essay Jews and Music, was personally aimed at Meyerbeer. During the last half of his life, Meyerbeer was the most famous and successful composer of opera in all Europe. Meyerbeer was not solely a composer of operas. He also composed songs, organ music, religious music, concerti and occasional pieces. Meyerbeer died in Paris on May 2, 1864, and was buried in the family plot in Berlin’s Jewish cemetery. Important Operas: Gott und die Natur (An Oratorio) (1811) Robert le Diable (1831); Libretto by Eugene Scribe and Germain Delavigne Les Huguenots (1836); Libretto by Eugene Scribe and Emile Deschamps Le Prophète (1849); Libretto by Eugene Scribe L'Etoile du Nord (1854); Libretto by Eugene Scribe Dinorah (1859); Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michael Carre L'Africaine (1865); Libretto by Eugene Scribe, final version by F.J. Fétis REV. 03/08/2004 |
|
The contents and use of this website are
protected by copyright law. |
