Giacomo Meyerbeer, Le prophète (1849)

After Les Huguenots was a smash hit in 1836, Meyerbeer wanted to write another opera about a religious conflict that would be totally opaque to twenty-first-century Americans. It's what the people wanted! But Le prophète wasn't completed until 1849. It seems the word "long-awaited" was relevant back then too.

It's based--extremely loosely, natch--on the life of John of Leiden, an Anabaptist who decided he was a prophet and briefly took over the city of Münster before being deposed and killed horribly (really horribly--you can read all about it on the wikipedia page. As I've probably said before, it just sickens me how sadistic people can be). Anyway: here, at the beginning, Jean runs an inn with his mother, Fidès. He wants to marry his sweetheart Berthe, but for that he needs permission from the local feudal lord, Oberthal, who arrests the two women. Meanwhile, some sinister Anabaptists are trying to convince Jean to be their prophet, be he is resistant. It becomes obvious that they're doing this for totally cynical reasons, so it's not clear why they're so deadset on ol' Jean. Berthe comes in, having escaped, but Oberthal makes her return on pain of Fidès' death. Now Jean is pissed off, so he agrees to go along with the Anabaptists' plans. They start sorta running amuck, murdering nobles and preaching egalitarianism, you know how it goes. Eventually they take over Münster, and Jean is going to be crowned king. But his mother--who didn't know that he was this nefarious prophet everyone had been talking about--recognizes him. And because apparently it's forbidden for a prophet to have a mother (this plot detail is extremely unclear), he denies her and says "if I'm tricking you and she's my mom, take revenge and kill me!" so that she'll recant to save his life. Clever, if dickish. Later, they meet in private, she begs him to step down, he doesn't want to, but ultimately he agrees. Berthe appears, intent on murder; when she sees him everyone's happy and they're all going to leave together, but then she learns that he's the prophet and gets pissed off and stabs herself. As you do. With nothing to live for, he determines to take everyone down with him. It's a big ol' Anabaptist banquet; Oberthal shows up to arrest him, but the doors have been locked so no one can escape and he sets off a big explosion and absolutely everyone dies. The end!

I've gotta say, that ending really left me grinning. Maybe that's perverse, but it's so perfectly, operatically over-the-top. I was having a little trouble with the story at first: Jean's character arc is not particularly clear; he's corrupted by power and all, but there's really no process by which that happens. He just IS, suddenly. Still, especially in the latter half I really got into it: there's a great ballet sequence, predictably, and there are a few really great duets with Fidès and Berthe. Lots of showstopping moments, and the climax is truly climactic.

The best way to watch it is here, with French subs. I have given up trying to understand why these things are recorded but not commercially released. It's a really good performance, with John Osborn in the title role. But I must REALLY give a huge shout-out to Kate Aldrich as Fidès. You would think that Berthe would be the female lead, what with being the soprano and the love interest, but no, it's Fidès. She gets some of the best arias in the piece, and HOLY HELL Aldrich is incredible in the role. She sings and acts the hell out of it, and I love her to pieces.  How have I never seen her before?

It's easy to understand why Meyerbeer was the most popular composer of his time. Not that he's necessarily the best, but he wrote some very rousing, accessible music, and I'm not sure why his star has faded so much. Is it just Wagner's dickishness? Could be, but I'll say this: I'll take Meyerbeer over Wagner not every day of the week--let's not get carried away--but probably three or four of them, anyway. I'm a big fan.