Giacomo Meyerbeer (born
Jacob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German
opera composer of
Jewish birth who has been described as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century. With his 1831 opera
Robert le diable and its successors, he gave the genre of
grand opera 'decisive character'. Meyerbeer's grand opera style was achieved by his merging of German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition. These were employed in the context of sensational and melodramatic
libretti created by
Eugène Scribe and were enhanced by the up-to-date theatre technology of the
Paris Opéra. They set a standard which helped to maintain Paris as the opera capital of the nineteenth century.