Dr. Veron, in his “Memoires d’un Bourgeois de Paris,” describes a thrilling yet ludicrous accident that occurred on the first night’s performance.  After the admirable trio, which is the d’enoument of the work, Levasseur, who personated Bertram, sprang through the trap to rejoin the kingdom of the dead, whence he came so mysteriously. Robert, on the other hand, had to remain on the earth, a converted man, and destined to happiness in marriage with his princess, Isabelle.  Nourrit, the Robert of the performance, misled by the situation and the fervor of his own feelings, threw himself into the trap, which was not properly set.  Fortunately the mattresses beneath had not all been removed, or the tenor would have been killed, a doom which those on the stage who saw the accident expected.  The audience supposed it was part of the opera, and the people on the stage were full of terror and lamentation, when Nourrit appeared to calm their fears.  Mile.  Dorus burst into tears of joy, and the audience, recognizing the situation, broke into shouts of applause.

The opera was brought out in London the same year, with nearly the same cast, but did not excite so much enthusiasm as in Paris.  Lord Mount Edgcumbe, who represented the connoisseurs of the old school, expressed the then current opinion of London audiences:  “Never did I see a more disagreeable or disgusting performance.  The sight of the resurrection of a whole convent of nuns, who rise from their graves and begin dancing like so many bacchantes, is revolting; and a sacred service in a church, accompanied by an organ on the stage, not very decorous.  Neither does the music of Meyerbeer compensate for a fable which is a tissue of nonsense and improbability."*

     * Yet Lord Mount Edgcumbe is inconsistent enough to be an
     ardent admirer of Mozart’s “Zauberflote.”

M. Veron was so delighted with the great success of “Robert” that he made a contract with Meyerbeer for another grand opera, “Les Huguenots,” to be completed by a certain date.  Meanwhile, the failing health of Mme. Meyerbeer obliged the composer to go to Italy, and work on the opera was deferred, thus causing him to lose thirty thousand francs as the penalty of his broken contract.  At length, after twenty-eight rehearsals, and an expense of more than one hundred and sixty thousand francs in preparation, “Les Huguenots” was given to the public, February 26, 1836.  Though this great work excited transports of enthusiasm in Paris, it was interdicted in many of the cities of Southern Europe on account of the subject being a disagreeable one to ardent and bigoted Catholics.  In London it has always been the most popular of Meyerbeer’s three great operas, owing perhaps partly to the singing of Mario and Grisi, and more lately of Titiens and Giuglini.