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The Arts Intel Report

Best of Meyerbeer: Le Prophète, by Giacomo Meyerbeer

March 6, 2020
Bismarckstraße 35, 10627 Berlin, Germany

In The Lives of the Great Composers, Harold C. Schonberg titled his chapter on Giacomo Meyerbeer “Spectacle, Spectacle, and More Spectacle.” A Meyerbeer opera—built to never bore—included brilliant vocal parts (with arias not too long), always a ballet, “massed superfortissimos,” and formidable choruses. Meyebeer’s betters thought his music second-rate, but in his day he was as popular as Verdi. In our day, he’s not much performed, so here’s a chance to see his 1849 La Prophète, an opera about the Anabaptists of the 16th century. Four and a half hours; two intervals. —L.J.