L'africaine (The African Woman) is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. Meyerbeer's working title for the opera was 'Vasco da Gama', the hero. The events in the opera are, however, entirely fictitious.
The opera was premiered at the Paris Opéra on April 28, 1865 in a performing edition undertaken by François-Joseph Fétis, as the composer had not prepared a final version ...
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L'africaine (The African Woman) is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. Meyerbeer's working title for the opera was 'Vasco da Gama', the hero. The events in the opera are, however, entirely fictitious.
The opera was premiered at the Paris Opéra on April 28, 1865 in a performing edition undertaken by François-Joseph Fétis, as the composer had not prepared a final version at his death the previous year. It is Fétis who gave the work its present title; Meyerbeer had referred to it as 'Vasco da Gama'. In fact it is clear from the text, with its references to Hinduism, that the heroine Sélika hails not from Africa, but from a region of, or island nearby, India - Madagascar has been suggested as a compromise reconciliation. Gabriela Cruz has published a detailed analysis of the historical context of the events of the opera and the opera setting itself.
The work was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre, London,...
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