first dramatic work, “The Daughter of Jephtha,” was performed at Munich.  He then began the world for himself, and made his debut in Vienna as a pianist with great success.  His first opera, “The Two Caliphs,” met with complete failure, as it was not written in the Italian form.  He at once transformed his style and brought out “Romilda e Costanza,” a serio-comic opera, with great success, at Padua.  In 1820, “Emma di Resburgo” appeared at Venice, and from this period his star was in the ascendant.  “The Gate of Brandeburg,” “Margharita d’ Anjou,” “Esule di Granata,” and “Almanzar” followed in quick succession, and were well received, though with nothing like the furor which “Il Crociato in Egitto” created in Venice in 1824.  His next great work, “Robert le Diable,” was produced in Paris, Nov. 21, 1831, the unparalleled success of which carried its fame to every part of the civilized world.  In 1836 “The Huguenots,” unquestionably his masterpiece, was brought out, and it still holds its place as one of the grandest dramatic works the world has ever seen.  In 1838 Scribe furnished him the libretto of “L’Africaine,” but before the music was finished he had changed the text so much that Scribe withdrew it altogether.  He was consoled, however, by Meyerbeer’s taking from him the libretto of “Le Prophete,” this opera being finished in 1843.  During the following year he wrote several miscellaneous pieces besides the three-act German opera, “Ein Feldlager in Schlesien,” in which Jenny Lind made her Berlin debut.  In 1846 he composed the overture and incidental music to his brother’s drama of “Struensee,” and in 1847 he not only prepared the way for Wagner’s “Flying Dutchman” in Paris, but personally produced “Rienzi,”—­services which Wagner poorly requited.  In 1849 “Le Prophete” was given in Paris; in 1854, “L’Etoile du Nord;” and in 1859, “Dinorah;” but none of them reached the fame of “The Huguenots.”  In 1860 he wrote two cantatas and commenced a musical drama called “Goethe’s Jugendzeit,” which was never finished.  In 1862 and 1863 he worked upon “L’Africaine,” and at last brought it forward as far as a rehearsal; but he died April 23, 1863, and it was not performed until two years after his death.

THE HUGUENOTS.

“Les Huguenots,” a grand opera in five acts, words by Scribe and Deschamps, was first produced at the Academie, Paris, Feb. 29, 1836, with the following cast of the principal parts:—­

VALENTIN                 Mlle. FALCON. 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS     Mme. DORUS-GRAS. 
URBAIN                   Mlle. FLECHEUX. 
COUNT DE ST. BRIS        M. LERDA. 
COUNT DE NEVERS          M. DERIVIS. 
RAOUL DE NANGIS          M. NOURRIT. 
MARCEL                   M. LEVASSEUR.

At its first production in London in Italian, as “Gli Ugonotti,” July 20, 1848, the cast was even more remarkable than that above.  Meyerbeer specially adapted the opera for the performance, transposed the part of the page, which was written for a soprano, and expressly composed a cavatina to be sung by Mme. Alboni, in the scene of the chateau and gardens of Chenonceaux, forming the second act of the original work, but now given as the second scene of the first act in the Italian version.  The cast was as follows:—­