Giacomo Meyerbeer

German-French composer

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Lived 1791–1864, aged 73Germany

Germany MusiciansSinger / Musician

Wikipedia
52 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1791–1864
Aged 73
Awards
13
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-12

He owned the nineteenth century's opera stages more completely than anyone between Mozart and Wagner — a German who conquered Paris by fusing orchestral weight with Italian vocal fire, then wrapped it all in Scribe's melodrama and the latest stage machinery.

Biography

About

Born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer to a wealthy Jewish family on 5 September 1791, he started as a pianist before turning to opera and spending years studying in Italy. His 1824 opera Il crociato in Egitto gave him a Europe-wide reputation, but Robert le diable in 1831 made him a celebrity and defined grand opera's "decisive character." Les Huguenots (1836) and Le prophète (1849) marked his peak; L'Africaine appeared only after his death on 2 May 1864. Simultaneously he served as Prussian Court Kapellmeister from 1832 and General Music Director from 1843, shaping opera across Germany and enabling…

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