d who had seduced
her. While Robert is hesitating between the two, midnight strikes, and
Bertram sinks with thunder into the pit. The scene changes, and a
glimpse is given of the interior of the cathedral, where the marriage of
Robert and Isabella is being celebrated.

'Robert le Diable' was an immense success when first produced. The
glitter and tinsel of the story suited Meyerbeer's showy style, and
besides, even when the merely trivial and conventional had been put
aside, there remains a fair proportion of the score which has claims to
dramatic power. The triumph of 'Robert' militated against the success of
'Les Huguenots' (1836), which was at first rather coldly received.
Before long, however, it rivalled the earlier work in popularity, and is
now generally looked upon as Meyerbeer's masterpiece. The libretto
certainly compares favourably with the fatuities of 'Robert le Diable.'

Marguerite de Valois, the beautiful Queen of Navarre, who is anxious to
reconcile the bitterly hostile parties of Catholics and Huguenots,
persuades the Comte de Saint Bris, a prominent Catholic, to allow his
daughter Valentine to marry Raoul de Nangis, a young Huguenot noble.
Valentine is already betrothed to the gallant and amorous Comte de
Nevers, but she pays him a nocturnal visit in his own palace, and
induces him to release her from her engagement. During her interview
with Nevers she is perceived by Raoul, and recognised as a lady whom he
lately rescued from insult and has loved passionately ever since. In his
eyes there is only one possible construction to be put upon her presence
in Nevers' palace, and he hastens to dismiss her from his mind.
Immediately upon his decision comes a message from the Queen bidding him
hasten to her palace in Touraine upon important affairs of state. When
he arrives she unfolds her plan, and he, knowing Valentine only by
sight, not by name, gladly consents. When, in the presence of the
assembled nobles, he recognises in his destined bride the presumed
mistress of Nevers, he casts her from him, and vows to prefer death to
such intolerable disgrace.

The scene of the next act is in the Pre aux Clercs, in the outskirts of
Paris. Valentine, who is to be married that night to Nevers, obtains
leave to pass some hours in prayer in a chapel. While she is there she
overhears the details of a plot devised by Saint Bris for the
assassination of Raoul, in order to avenge the affront put upon himself
and his dau