|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: farrago of nonsense. The absurdities of the libretti of Vesari and
Schikander are not to compare with those of the words of Robert le
Diable; it is a dramatic nightmare, which oppresses the hearer without
deeply moving him.
"And Meyerbeer has given the devil a too prominent part. Bertram and
Alice represent the contest between right and wrong, the spirits of
good and evil. This antagonism offered a splendid opportunity to the
composer. The sweetest melodies, in juxtaposition with harsh and crude
strains, was the natural outcome of the form of the story; but in the
German composer's score the demons sing better than the saints. The
heavenly airs belie their origin, and when the composer abandons the
Gambara |
