Like his previous grand opera, Le Juif errant which premiered in 1852 and also had a libretto by Saint-Georges, the work was based on a European folk myth and combined elements of the supernatural with Christian themes.

According to musicologists Karl Leich-Galland and Diana Hallman, the explicit religiosity of La Magicienne, particularly in the final act, which Leich-Galland describes as the scenic equivalent of a Christian oratorio, contrasts sharply with the anti-clerical sentiment expressed in Halévy's grand operas of the July Monarchy period (most notably in his 1835 La Juive).

Both Hallman and Leich-Galland suggest that this shift may be a reflection of the reconciliation of church and state which occurred during the Second French Empire and can be seen in other grand operas of that period.

He discovered her secret one day when spying on her in her bath, and later in a fit of anger, called her a serpent in front of the assembled court.

Her magic powers derive not from her ancestry as the daughter of a fairy but from a Faustian pact with the devil (personified in the opera by the Chevalier Stello di Nici).

In his preface to the libretto Saint-Georges explained that the transformation of Mélusine into a horrible winged serpent in the "crude" form of the original legend could not be replicated in the theatre.

Instead, he made her a woman whose future soul had become the devil's property and who was condemned in the present to be "beautiful by day and ugly by night".

Some contemporary critics noted that the Mélusine of Saint-Georges' libretto scarcely resembled that of the medieval legend which was well known to French audiences of the time.

[7] As is traditional in the grand opera genre, the production contained several ballets, including one in the second act depicting a human chess game.

The fourth act ballet had an even greater variety of creatures: 18 nymphs, 18 naiads and sirens, 14 fairies, 8 genies, and an assortment of butterflies, salamanders, gnomes, and ondines.

Hector Berlioz writing in the Journal des débats described Halévy's score as one of "power and grandeur" and filled with "many beautiful passages".

He noted that the composer had rightly dispensed with an overture given the number of "instrumental treasures" present in the remainder of the score.

[10] It received no further stagings until it was revived in a heavily cut concert version performed in 2011 at the Opéra Berlioz during the Festival Radio-France Montpellier.

The concert performance (also broadcast live on Radio France) featured Marianne Crebassa as Mélusine, Norah Amsellem as Blanche, Florian Laconi as René, and Marc Barrard as Stello de Nici.

Mélusine, who had been seduced by Stello di Nici and given supernatural powers by him in exchange for her soul, is surrounded by numerous dancing fairies and genies.

Act 3 In the gardens of the Count of Poitou's château, Mélusine conjures up ghostly apparitions which convince René that Blanche has accepted the advances of her page Aloïs.

As Mélusine looks longingly towards the convent, trumpets sound, the earth opens up, and Stello appears accompanied by demons and the spirits of the damned.

The valley fills with processions of villagers, members of the Count of Poitou's court, and nuns from the convent led by their abbess.