Had he done more than he did, he would have been a
genius; as it is, he remains a man of exceptional talent, whose
influence on the history of modern music is still important, though his
own compositions are now slightly superannuated. 'Robert le Diable,' the
first work of his third or French period, was produced in 1831. The
libretto, which, like those of all the composer's French operas, was by
Eugene Scribe, is a strange tissue of absurdities, though from the
merely scenic point of view it may be thought fairly effective. Robert,
Duke of Normandy, the son of the Duchess Bertha by a fiend who donned
the shape of man to prosecute his amour, arrives in Sicily to compete
for the hand of the Princess Isabella, which is to be awarded as the
prize at a magnificent tournament. Robert's daredevil gallantry and
extravagance soon earn him the sobriquet of 'Le Diable,' and he puts the
coping-stone to his folly by gambling away all his possessions at a
single sitting, even to his horse and the armour on his back. Robert has
an _ame damnee_ in the shape of a knight named Bertram, to whose malign
influence most of his crimes and follies are due. Bertram is in reality
his demon-father, whose every effort is directed to making a
thorough-paced villain of his son, so that he may have the pleasure of
enjoying his society for all eternity. In strong contrast to the
fiendish malevolence of Bertram stands the gentle figure of Alice,
Robert's foster-sister, who has followed him from Normandy with a
message from his dead mother.
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