L’Africaine

L'Africaine (The African Woman) is a grand opera in five acts, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto by Eugène Scribe deals with fictitious events in the life of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama – Meyerbeer's working title for the opera was in fact Vasco de Gama. The opera had its first performance by the Paris Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier on 28 April 1865.

The opera was premiered in a performing edition undertaken by François-Joseph Fétis, as the composer had not prepared a final version by the time of his death the previous year. It is Fétis who gave the work its present title; Meyerbeer had referred to it as Vasco de 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.

Meyerbeer worked on the score from 1854 to 1855. He had intended the role of Sélika for the soprano Sophie Cruvelli, but Cruvelli's abrupt retirement from the public stage in January 1856 interrupted his plans.

The work had its British premiere at Covent Garden Theatre, London, on 22 July 1865, and in New York on 1 December 1865. It also received its Italian premiere in 1865 in Bologna, conducted by Angelo Mariani and was staged four times at La Fenice between 1868 and 1892. It was also performed in Melbourne, Australia, in July 1866.

The opera was enormously successful in the 19th century, but along with Meyerbeer's other operas,it fell into almost complete neglect in the 20th century, except for very occasional revivals. Plácido Domingo has sung it in at least two productions: a revival at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco that premiered on November 13, 1973; and in 1977 at the Liceu in Barcelona, with Montserrat Caballé. To mark the 150th anniversary of Meyerbeer's death, the work was performed again at La Fenice in November 2013. In 2013, Meyerbeer's original version in a new critical edition by Jürgen Schläder () was performed by Chemnitz Opera under the original title Vasco de Gama. The production was a success with audiences and critics and won the poll of German critics award presented by Opernwelt magazine annually as "Rediscovery of the year" in 2013. This edition was also used for a production at the Deutsche Oper in October 2015, with Roberto Alagna as Vasco da Gama and Sophie Koch as Sélika. In the 21st century, Meyerbeer's major French grand operas are again appearing in new productions in European opera houses. A new production of L'Africaine/Vasco da Gama will be staged at the Frankfurt Opera in 2018.

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Wikipedia