Meyerbeer: Gli Amori di Teolinda

[adriano]

A new recording:

https://www.claves.ch/collections/rarities/products/giacomo-meyerbeer-gli-amori-di-teolinda?mc_cid=4bf50ed0e3&mc_eid=2f45fe1aa5

[Alan Howe]

Not really my thing - all this early belcanto stuff sounds the same to me. Nevertheless, the singing sounds good enough to satisfy canary-fanciers. An enterprising release, to be sure.

[mikehopf]

Poor old Meyerbeer: overrated and denigrated in his lifetime; underrated in ours.

[Alan Howe]

Well, he was another very uneven composer. In my view only some of his music really scales the heights.

[adriano]

Of course I do too prefer his later, more dramatic and grand opera-like output. "Les Huguenots", "Le Prophète" and "Robert le Diable" are very important works in opera history.

[Alan Howe]

Absolutely correct! Is it possible to conceive of, say, Verdi's Don Carlos/Carlo without the prior example of Meyerbeer's grand operas?

[adriano]

I use the word "absolutely" also as an answer to you, Alan.
But we also should include Wagner! Without the stylistic influences of Meyerbeer, his earlier operas would have not been possible.
And this also from a financial point of view: we have to remember that Meyerbeer supported Wagner financially (and considerably) during his difficult Paris years 1840-42 - and Wagner never really showed him any "reconnaisance". Later on he wrote to Liszt: "I don't really hate him, but I feel a limitless repulsion towards him". And about his music: "Its all effect - without cause".
Some critics considered Wagner's "Rienzi" as being "the best of Meyerbeer's operas" - but they also were anti-semites like Wagner.
We should also not forget that Meyerbeer's legacy included funds meant to support young German (!) composers.

[Alan Howe]

And now it's my turn to say 'absolutely' (which I can never type correctly, by the way)! His influence on Rienzi is clear and powerful.

Of course, there is much 'effect without cause' in Meyerbeer - but what effects!

[adriano]

... and effects are an important element in opera. After all, it's theatre...

[Alan Howe]

Absolutely!