Meyerbeer recommendations

[Anne]

No-one that I know of, but why not?  OK, composers, here's your chance:

On your mark!
Get set!
Go!

But back to the subject.  In addition to the Opera Rara Crociato in Egitto and the Dynamic Roberto le Diable, I've got the CBS Le Prophète (Horne, Scotto, McCracken, Henry Lewis conducting), the Erato Huguenots (Leech, Pollet, Raphnael), and the DVD of the San Francisco Opera L'Africaine with Domingo, Verrett, and Ruth Ann Swenson.  I like 'em all, Le Prophète's my favorite.

Wendell,

You don't know me but I know you a little bit.  I used to read the new web site you started when other opera lovers were upset with Standing Room.  At one time back in the glorious days of Standing Room at its best, there were a group of posters who all liked Meyerbeer operas so much that they started a web site devoted just to him.  They had T-shirts made with M's image on them, posted their research about him and his operas, etc.

It might have been before you posted at Standing Room - about 1998 or 1999.  I just wondered if you knew if the web site still existed and if per chance you had the URL?

[Wendell_E]

Hi, Anne.  You're probably thinking of the Meyerbeen Fan Club:

http://www.meyerbeer.com/

[Anne]

Hi, Anne.  You're probably thinking of the Meyerbeen Fan Club:

http://www.meyerbeer.com/

Yes, I think that's it.  Thank you very much.

[BachQ]

And remember that Wagner learned a great deal about stagecraft from Meyerbeer (as of course did Verdi, in works like Vespri Sicliani and Don Carlo, and Berlioz in Troyens). Bernard Shaw loved pointing out how much of Goetterdaemmerung is like a Meyerbeer grand opera. Though Wagner strongly reacted against Meyerbeer's music after writing that most musically Meyerbeerian of operas, Rienzi, the ultimate source of his hatred stemmed at least as much from Meyerbeer's great popular success in Paris at the same time Wagner was spending his years there living in cold and in penury.

Larry,

Did anyone influence Wagner more than Meyerbeer?

[Sylph]

I like this pastoral / idyll from Les Huguenots:

http://www.youtube.com/v/pBf_8Eky_7E

http://Actually, Il Crociato in Egitto translates as The Crusade in Egypt.    Great recording, in any case.

The Crusader in Egypt. 

[Sylph]

Larry,

Did anyone influence Wagner more than Meyerbeer?

I wonder.

Wagner and Meyerbeer had an "ambiguous" relationship. Meyerbeer even promoted his fellow countryman and gave him money. Wagner in Paris usually signed his letters to Meyerbeer as 'your property' and 'your most humble slave'.

[Sylph]

Wagner also called Robert le diable "deathless".

[Florestan]

Wagner also called Robert le diable "deathless".

Wagner made / wrote positive comments about composers that certain wagnerites today are only too eager to trash, such as Bellini, Spontini and Meyerbeer. 

[Josquin des Prez]

Though Wagner strongly reacted against Meyerbeer's music after writing that most musically Meyerbeerian of operas, Rienzi

Meyerbeer wasn't the only one to write in that style. Bellini, Spontini, Auber and Weber (who actually acted as an "uncle" figure to Wagner in his youth) also wrote in a similar vein. Perhaps we can trace his influence there. Much of Meyerbeer's success laid on his ability to exploit the stylistic currents of his time to the fullest, but those currents didn't generate from him.

the ultimate source of his hatred stemmed at least as much from Meyerbeer's great popular success in Paris at the same time Wagner was spending his years there living in cold and in penury.

Not to mention the fact Meyerbeer's success was fueled by the press, most of which was under Jewish influence. Kinda like Korngold (who wrote some of the most insipid sound tracks of all time) in Hollywood. A European genius being left to rot in anonymity while a populist hack was being heralded and celebrated from all corners. That's how Wagner saw it. Mendelssohn too, though in that case he didn't personally hate the composer, just his music.