On Music, Money and Markets by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783031432262
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland

Librettists

Bellini and Meyerbeer realised the importance of working with a good libretto. For Bellini, it was important to have the right words to reach, together with the music, the feelings of the public. For Meyerbeer, he considered that there had to be a perfect ensemble between music, script, and staging. For this reason, both had their favourite librettists, who coincided with their idea of what an opera should be and, therefore, with whom they preferred to work. In Bellini's case, it was Felice Romani and in Meyerbeer’s case, Eugène Scribe.

But relations were not always idyllic. Romani had a great reputation, and his works were in high demand by composers. This meant that he was often late in delivering the libretto. Bellini attributed the failure of Beatrice di Tenda to the delay in receiving the libretto, which in his opinion prevented him from composing the appropriate music. The Bellini’s blame angered Romani, and there was a series of Romani’s replies in the newspapers that led to the break-up of the friendship between the two. Bellini therefore turned to another librettist for what would be his last work, I Puritani. But later, he tried to ingratiate himself with Romani and even came to propose some projects to him.

The relationship between Meyerbeer and Scribe was commercial rather than friendship. Depending on the circumstances, there were recriminations for certain behaviours, which almost always led to financial compensation. This seems to be clear from the entry that Meyerbeer made in his diary (21st of February 1861) on learning of the librettist's death, in which Meyerbeer spoke well of Scribe talent, indicating that he had been ingenious and inventive, but not always noble. Meyerbeer described that they had had some disagreements and wondered who would henceforth supervise the staging, possible changes to the verses, and, above all, whether Scribe's heirs would cause him problems with the contract for his future operas Vasco and Judith (Meyerbeer 2004, p. 198).

Two examples of Meyerbeer-Scribe quarrels can be cited. Firstly, around 1828 when Meyerbeer intended to compose an opera to be premiered in Berlin. One of the problems was the difficulty of finding a prominent German librettist, so Meyerbeer proposed to Scribe that the opera whose libretto he was writing (surely Robert le Diable) should first be premiered in Berlin. Apparently, Scribe agreed at first, but as Meyerbeer told Frederick William III of Prussia, he later changed his mind, because when if the opera was first performed outside France, it would be considered a foreign work and Scribe would lose his author’s rights, which at that time were one-third for the librettist and two-thirds for the composer. This system was not introduced in Germany until 1844 (Becker and Becker 1989, p. 43).

Secondly, in August 1857, Meyerbeer noted in his diary that Scribe was very angry because he had composed a comic opera with another poet, so he told him that he wanted to withdraw L'Africaine and Judith if he did not sign a contract including a penalty of 50,000 francs

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