“The vanishing of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s once inescapable grand opera ‘Les Huguenots’ is … almost a crime in need of solving,” writes Alex Ross in the October 22 New Yorker. “A panoramic tragedy of religious violence, ‘Huguenots’ had its première at the Opéra de Paris, in 1836…. It is a juggernaut of musical-dramatic invention, and its climactic scenes, depicting the massacre of thousands of Huguenot Protestants … can still inspire terror. A new production of ‘Huguenots’ at the Opéra—the first in eighty-two years—has affirmed the work’s elemental power. The putative crime has a prime suspect: Richard Wagner [who] launched his career with Meyerbeer’s assistance…. By 1850, though, anti-Semitism and nationalism had infected Wagner’s world view…. Yet Wagner should not be given sole blame for Meyerbeer’s eclipse. ‘Huguenots,’ ‘Robert le Diable,’ ‘Le Prophète,’ and other Meyerbeer blockbusters retained their popularity even at the zenith of Wagnermania … The eventual decline of grand opera affected Jewish and Gentile composers alike…. The main problem is that grand opera is a stylistic world unto itself, demanding lavish resources and idiosyncratic vocal styles.… Above all, it demands patience from the audience, as it sprawls across an evening-devouring structure of five acts.”
Posted October 16, 2018
