Il crociato in Egitto
Music by Giacomo Meyerbeer · libretto by Gaetano Rossi · premiered 1824 · at Teatro La Fenice
Il crociato in Egitto (The Crusader in Egypt) is an opera in two acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a libretto by Gaetano Rossi. It was first performed at La Fenice theatre, Venice on 7 March 1824.
The part of Armando was sung by the famous castrato, Giovanni Battista Velluti; the opera was probably the last to feature a leading role written for a castrato.
It is the last of Meyerbeer's series of operas in Italian, and became the foundation of the composer's international success.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Il crociato in Egitto", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera Robert le diable and its successors, he gave the genre of grand opera 'decisive character'. Meyerbeer's grand opera style was achieved by his merging of German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition. These were employed in the context of sensational and melodramatic libretti created by Eugène Scribe and were enhanced by the up-to-date theatre technology of the Paris Opéra. They set a standard that helped to maintain Paris as the opera capital of the…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Giacomo Meyerbeer", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer
- Emma di Resburgo (1803)
- Jephtas Gelübde (1812)
- Die beiden Kalifen (1813)
- L'esule di Granata (1822)
- Ein Feldlager in Schlesien (1844)
- L'étoile du nord (1854)
- Dinorah (1859)
- L'Africaine (1865)