of this amazing libretto is unknown, but it is not
strange that Meyerbeer soon abandoned it. From this still-born _Faust_,
Scribe, at the request of the author, constructed _Robert le Diable_. An
aria sung by Faust on the banks of the Styx becomes the _Valse
Infernale_.

The necessity of utilizing pre-existing fragments explains some of the
incoherence of this incomprehensible piece. It also explains the
creation of Bertram, half man, half devil, who was invented as a
substitute for Mephistopheles. The fruit of the Tree of Human Knowledge
became the _Rameau Veneree_ in the third act, and the beautiful
religious scene in the fifth act, which has no relation to the action,
is a transposition of the Easter scene.

So Scribe should not be blamed for making a poor piece when he had so
many difficulties to contend with. He must have lost his head a little
for Robert's mother was called Berthe in the first act and Rosalie in
the third. However, the answer might be that she changed her name when
she became religious.

Later, Scribe was put to another no less difficult test with _L'Etoile
du Nord_. When Meyerbeer was the conductor at the Berlin Opera, he wrote
on command _Le Camp de Silesie_ with Frederick the Great as the hero and
Jenny Lind as the musical star. As we know, Frederick was a musician,
for he both composed music and played the flute, while Jenny Lind, the
Swedish nightingale, was a great singer. A contest between the
nightingale and the flute was sure to follow or theatrical instinct is a
vain phrase. But in the piece Scribe created, Peter the Great took
Frederick the Great's place and to give a motive for the grace notes in
the last act it was necessary for the terrible Tsar, a half savage
barbarian, to learn to play the flute.

It is not worth while telling how the Tsar took lessons on the flute
from a young pastry cook who came on the stage with a basket of cakes on
his head; how the cook later became a lord, and many other details of
this absurd play. It is permitted to be absurd on the stage, if it is
done so that the absurdity is forgotten. But in this instance it was
impossible to forget the absurdities. The extravagance of the libretto
led the musician into many unfortunate things. This extremely
interesting score is very uneven, but there are a thousand details worth
the attention of the professional musician. Beauty even appears in the
score at moments, and there are charming and picturesque bits, a