Carousel of Terrors

The Deutsche Oper’s Meyerbeer cycle, which started two years ago with Vasco da Gama (L’Africaine) and continued last November with Les Huguenots, has been a source of great intellectual delight, a chance to become better acquainted with the composer’s oft-neglected oeuvre while reflecting on the legacy of French grand opéra from the vantage point of the twenty-first century. If this description sounds somewhat dry, it is perhaps because the operas themselves have been more interesting than likeable. Both works were undoubtedly important in their day, but their monumental self-seriousness often left one daydreaming of simpler operatic pleasures.

The third instalment, a new production of Le Prophète, was arguably the first in the series to succeed equally as both history lesson and cohesive work of drama. Oliver Py’s staging, although not…