Meyerbeer

Meyerbeer, Giacomo, the operatic composer, was the eldest son of Herz Beer, a wealthy Berlin banker of Jewish extraction. The name Meyer was afterwards prefixed from that of a benefactor. The date of his birth is probably 1791, but is sometimes given as 1794. At the age of seven he played in public Mozart's Concerto in I) Minor, and he won his earliest laurels as a pianist. His Crociato, produced with great success at Venice in 1824, was his first work of any merit. In 1831 was given Robert le Diable with words by Eugene Scribe. It was followed in 1836 by Les Huguenots, soon after the production of which the composer became kapellmeister to the king of Prussia. Le Prophete, given at Paris in 1849, was the last of Meyerbeer's best works ,- L'Etoile du Nord, a comic opera; Le Pardon de PUermel (or Dinorah), L'Africaine, are others of his works. He died in 1864.