Le prophète

The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, after passages from the Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations by Voltaire.

After the brilliant success of their grand opera Les Huguenots (1836), Meyerbeer and his librettist Scribe decided to collaborate again on a piece based on a historical religious conflict.

Meyerbeer's great personal wealth and his duties as official court composer to King Frederick William IV of Prussia meant that there was no hurry to complete the opera; the composition and planning took more than a decade.

In the audience at the work's premiere were Chopin, Verdi, Théophile Gautier, Delacroix, Charles Dickens, Ivan Turgenev and Berlioz, among others.

[2] Like Meyerbeer's other operas, Le prophète lost favor in the early part of the twentieth century and it fell out of the operatic repertoire worldwide, except for very occasional revivals.

[5][6][7][8] Precis: Jean de Leyde (based on the historical John of Leiden), whose beloved, Berthe, is coveted by Count Oberthal, ruler of Dordrecht, is persuaded by a trio of sinister Anabaptists to proclaim himself king in Münster.

For over a century, the overture was thought to survive only in piano arrangements made at Meyerbeer's request by Charles-Valentin Alkan, but Meyerbeer's manuscript full score was rediscovered in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris in the early 1990s; the original parts were discovered in the archives of the Paris Opèra shortly thereafter and a newly edited edition was published in 2010.

The peasants and millers leave to work, the wings of the mills begin to turn (Prelude and pastoral chorus: La brise est muette).

Berthe, a young peasant girl, is very happy to be able to marry the man she loves (Aria: Mon cœur s'élance et palpite).

Doors to the right and left of the stage The Anabaptists enter with merrymaking peasants and try to persuade Jean that he is their destined leader, claiming that he closely resembles the picture of King David in Münster Cathedral.

When the Anabaptists return, Jean is ready to join them in vengeance against Oberthal; he goes, without letting Fidès know (Quartet: Oui, c'est Dieu qui t'appelle).

The interior of the tent of Zacharie, a few moments later The Anabaptists determine to seize Münster; their decision is overheard by Oberthal who has entered the camp in disguise.

He pretends that he wants to join the Anabaptists and Zacharie and Jonas then make him swear to respect the peasants and the poor, but to mercilessly massacre the nobles and the burghers, after having stripped them of their wealth (Comic trio: Sous votre bannière que faudra-t-il faire?).

However, Jean, as Prophet and Leader, inspires the Anabaptist troops with a celestial vision of their impending success (Triumphal hymn: Roi du ciel et des anges).

To the right, a few steps leading to the door of the town hall Jean, who wishes to make himself Emperor, has taken the city, whose citizens are in despair at his rule.

Fidès then tells the girl that her son died: she found only his bloodied clothes while an unknown person claimed to have witnessed his assassination ordered by the prophet of the Anabaptists.

Exalted, the girl runs to the palace of the prophet while Fidès tries in vain to catch up (Duet: Pour garder à ton fils le serment).

Fidès is determined to carry out Berthe's plan for revenge; entering the cathedral, she curses the Anabaptists' prophet (Prayer and imprecation: Domine salvum fac regem).

Finally, Fidès seems ready to forgive the faults of her son, while wishing that death should come to free her from all her ills (Aria: Ô prêtres de Baal).

Informed by a member of her family about the existence of secret passages, Berthe enters the vault in order to access the powder magazine and blow up the palace and all its inhabitants.

A table placed on a platform rises in the middle of the stage The Anabaptist soldiers feast and sing of the glory of their prophet at the banquet to celebrate his coronation.

Jean encourages all to get drunk and asks the three Anabaptists to stand by his side as a reward for their fidelity (Drinking song: Versez, que tout respire l'ivresse).

Noted writer and literary critic Théophile Gautier began his review of the premiere in La Presse by noting that "the choice of the libretto is ... for Meyerbeer of major importance" and that "Meyerbeer is the most dramatic composer ever heard at the Opera: he has the highest level of theatrical understanding, ... and that is, in our opinion, the distinctive quality of his genius.

[13] The view of the world conveyed by the opera is particularly pessimistic: the three Anabaptists advocate revolution only in their own interest; too cowardly to expose themselves directly, they seek a charismatic leader whom they will not hesitate to betray when they feel the wind turn.

But the old system against which the Anabaptists rise is far from being presented in a favorable manner: it is even, in the person of the Count of Oberthal, very clearly condemned for his arbitrariness, his injustice and the abuses of power which are inherent.

The deepest nature of the character remains ultimately ambiguous: does he truly believe in the mission that God is said to have entrusted to him (in the prophetic dream of the second act, the vision of his victorious attack on Münster at the end of the third, and the coronation ceremony)?

[13] According to musical historian Robert Letellier, Scribe would have been inspired by the character of the false Dmitri in the drama Boris Godunov of Pushkin published in 1831 to create his portrait of Jean of Leiden, torn between his sincere religious faith and his imposture as a prophet and son of God.

[13] With rare exceptions, Meyerbeer does not entrust the character with particularly virtuosic music; he prefers to invent a kind of lyrical declamation that reinforces the credibility and dignity of this role as a mother.

[15] The musical and theatrical influences of the opera can be felt in, amongst others, Liszt's monumental Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" for organ which is based on the Anabaptists' chorale, the duet between mother and lost child in Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore, and the catastrophic finale of Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung.

The tremendous success of Le prophète at its Paris première also provoked Wagner's anti-Jewish attack on Meyerbeer, Das Judenthum in der Musik.