Meyerbeer had little or no feeling
for characterisation, so that the opportunities for really dramatic
effect which lay in the character of John of Leyden have been almost
entirely neglected. Once only, in the famous cantique 'Roi du Ciel,' did
the composer catch an echo of the prophetic rapture which animated the
youthful enthusiast. Meyerbeer's besetting sin, his constant search for
the merely effective, is even more pronounced in 'Le Prophete' than in
'Les Huguenots.' The coronation scene has nothing of the large
simplicity necessary for the proper manipulation of a mass of sound. The
canvas is crowded with insignificant and confusing detail, and the
general effect is finicking and invertebrate rather than solid and
dignified.
Meyerbeer was constantly at work upon his last opera, 'L'Africaine,'
from 1838 until 1864, and his death found him still engaged in
retouching the score. It was produced in 1865. With a musician of
Meyerbeer's known eclecticism, it might be supposed that a work of which
the composition extended over so long a period would exhibit the
strangest conglomeration of styles and influences. Curiously enough,
'L'Africaine' is the most consistent of Meyerbeer's works. This is
probably due to the fact that in it the personal element is throughout
outweighed by the picturesque, and the exotic fascination of the story
goes far to cover its defects.
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