ABSTRACT
Reception was occasionally controversial, especially in Germany where the resistance of the nationally inclined critics against the cosmopolitanism of grand opera was ever more trenchantly articulated. Important for Giacomo Meyerbeer and Scribe is the figure of the repentant sinner, drawn from both the medieval legend of Robert the Devil and the Romantic Rudolf of the Spiess/Latouche novel. In Le Prophete Meyerbeer's dramatic language shows further evolution in refinement. On first appearances it would seem that Le Prophete emphatically revisits the dramaturgy of Les Huguenots. Marguerite became a coloratura soprano, Valentine a dramatic soprano, Urbain a soubrette, Raoul a dramatic tenor, Marcel a deep bass and Saint-Bris a high bass and Nevers a baritone. Partly descriptive, partly argumentatively, he proposed for the librettist the outline of the characters of Vasco, Selika, and Yoriko, as well as general situations in the action.
