Il crociato in Egitto

Performance history

After its successful Venetian premiere, Il Crociato was staged at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence (7 May 1824), Trieste (winter 1824–1825), Padua (summer 1825), and at His Majesty's Theatre in London (3 June 1825, the first of Meyerbeer's operas to be performed in England, also with Velluti in the cast). This encouraged Rossini, who was then managing the Théâtre-Italien, to arrange for its performance in Paris (25 September 1825), where the role of Armando was taken by the mezzo-soprano Giuditta Pasta and Aladino by Nicolas Levasseur. For each of these productions Meyerbeer revised the work and composed new music for parts of it. Over the next twenty to thirty years the opera was performed in almost every major opera house in Europe, and even in Mexico City, Havana and Constantinople.

The opera formed the basis for the composer's future great success. As remarked by the critic of the London magazine, The Harmonicon, in a review of the 1825 production in Trieste:

Of all living composers, Meyerbeer is the one who most happily combines the easy, flowing and expressive melodies of Italy with the severer beauties, the grander accomplishments, of the German school.

This formula of combining the strengths of both operatic schools, as well as of dramatic stage spectacle and flexible and imaginative use of the orchestra, whilst fully displayed in Il crociato in Egitto, was to produce maximum effect with Meyerbeer's series of Grand Operas, commencing with Robert le diable in 1831.

While it has not been staged complete in the 20th century there have been concert performances in both London and New York City which were recorded on LP. A staged revival was promised in Venice for the 2005-2006 season, but was postponed until the 2006-2007 season. This performance featured a natural male soprano Michael Maniaci.

Significant innovations

After Rossini left for Paris, composers then active in Italy began to take important steps away from Rossini's style in a series of operas which bridged the gap between Rossini and the later "bel canto" style, which was marked by less florid singing and more emphasis on the dramatic side. One of the earliest of these operas is Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto. It has much in common with Rossini, but, on closer examination, some significant innovations become apparent. One is the even greater complexity of the finale to the first act, especially the use of two contrasting stage bands, which is a precursor of the three bands in L'étoile du nord. This was a direction opposite to that eventually taken by Bellini and Donizetti, who concentrated more on the lyrical lines of singers than on orchestral handling and larger-scale dramatic form; it marks the experience of Meyerbeer's German training and his association with early German romantic opera, including the work of Carl Maria von Weber. In Adriano's "Suono funereo" there is what may well be one of the earliest cases of that strain of lyrical pathos which was to be such a dominant factor in later bel canto works. Another example is Palmide's big aria in Act 2: "D'una madre sventurata" in which the desperation of the young mother comes through in the music.

Synopsis

Before the opera begins, Armando, missing presumed dead in fighting, has become confidante to the Sultan Aladino, under an assumed name. He has fallen in love with Aladino's daughter, who has borne him a son, and has secretly converted her to Christianity.

Adriano arrives at the Sultan's palace to negotiate a truce. There he recognises Armando, as does Felicia, who has disguised herself as a knight to find her betrothed. Armando and the other Christian prisoners are thereupon sentenced to imprisonment and death. The ambitious Osmino arms the prisoners under Armando with the intention of killing the Sultan, but Armando exposes his treachery to the Sultan and instead kills Osmino. The Sultan relents, peace is agreed with the Knights and Armando and Palmide are reunited.

Recordings