Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable | Blake, Ramey, Anderson, Lagrange - Fulton (Opéra de Paris 1985)

Opera Title: Robert le Diable (Robert the Devil)
Composer: Giacomo Meyerbeer
Librettist: Eugène Scribe, and Germain Delavigne
Premiere: 21 November 1831, Paris (Opéra)
Language: French
Subtitles: English
Synopsis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_le_diable#Synopsis

Performers:
Robert - Rockwell Blake
Alice - Michèle Lagrange
Isabelle - June Anderson
Bertram - Samuel Ramey
Raimbaut - Walter Donati
Albert - Jean-Philippe Marlière

Opéra National de Paris
Conductor: Thomas Fulton
Rec. 1985

Robert le diable (Robert the Devil) is an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written in French by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. Robert le diable is regarded as one of the first grand operas at the Paris Opéra. It has only a superficial connection to the medieval legend of Robert the Devil. Originally planned as a three-act opéra comique, "Meyerbeer persuaded Scribe to change (the opera)...to a five-act grand opera". The dramatic music, harmony and orchestration of Robert, its melodramatic plot, and its sensational stage effects (especially the Ballet of the Nuns) made it an overnight success and instantly confirmed Meyerbeer as the leading opera composer of his age.

Robert initiated the European fame of its composer, consolidated the fame of its librettist, Scribe, and launched the reputation of the new director of the Opéra, Louis-Désiré Véron, as a purveyor of a new genre of opera. It also had influence on development of the ballet, and was frequently mentioned and discussed in contemporary French literature. Robert continued as a favourite in opera houses all over the world throughout the nineteenth century. After a period of neglect, it began to be revived towards the end of the twentieth century.