MEYERBEER, JAKOB. — Composer, b. in Berlin on 23 Sept. 1791, d. in Paris on 2 May 1864. He added his surname Beer to that of a relative Mayer who had left him heir to a substantial fortune. He studied music with Lauska and Muzio Clementi and completed his training in Darmstadt with Abbé Vogler.
His first work was the oratorio *Gott und die Natur*, which earned him the title of court chapel director. This was followed by *Il voto di Jefte* and *Abimelek*, both of which met with excellent success. After a brief stay in Vienna, in 1815 he came to Italy, where he resided for several years and composed many works in a style reminiscent of Rossini. The great success of *Il crociato* brought him universal fame. The death
Mete. Diocese of — The Cathedral seen from the Piazza della Comédie.
of his father, two sons, and several close friends drew him away from the theatre and focused him on sacred music, where he conducted deep studies and composed 12 psalms for double choir, 7 sacred cantatas on texts by Klopstock, several motets, a grand *Hymn to God*, and many melodies. In 1830 in Paris he returned to the theatre and wrote his masterpieces *Robert le Diable*, *Les Huguenots*, *L'Africaine*, *Le Prophète*, *Dinorah*, etc., followed by a *Pater noster* and other sacred compositions.
A man of the theatre and a seeker of success, Meyerbeer possessed fine artistic qualities and masterly technique, but an overly melodramatic and superficial pathos pervades his entire output, reflecting the taste and defects of his time.