530 MEYERBEER, GIACOMO. 



MICHIGAN. 



At the close of the performance the composer 

 was called before the curtain and crowned amid 

 the plaudits of the audience. The opera was 

 performed with great success in all parts of 

 Europe, and is considered his masterpiece in the 

 Italian style. It marked also a turning point in his 

 career, whence his genius, invigorated and refined 

 by ten years' study of foreign models, though 

 still faithful to the early traditions on which 

 it had been formed, marched forward to greater 

 triumphs. The favorable reception of the Croc ia to 

 in Paris, procured him an invitation to visit that 

 city, where, in 1826, he wrote his Robert le 

 Diable. Domestic afflictions prevented him 

 from at once putting the finishing touches to 

 this work, which for four years he kept hi his 

 portfolio, supplying occasionally such passages 

 as a naturally fastidious taste dictated, or such, 

 of grander and at times more melancholy tone, 

 as were suggested by his private griefs. In 

 1830 Robert was sold to the director of the 

 grand opera, and in the succeeding year, after 

 many careful rehearsals, was produced with un- 

 surpassed effect. It immediately became famous 

 all- over Europe, and to this day has lost none 

 of its original popularity. Written for the most 

 exacting musical audience of Europe, it was 

 elaborated beyond any thing the author had 

 hitherto produced, and proved a marvellously 

 successful attempt to combine melodic beauties 

 and broad harmonic effects with dramatic ac- 

 tion. The varying phases of the pathetic, the 

 supernatural, the romantic, or the tragic were 

 expressed with exquisite skill, and in the in- 

 dividuality and character of his music, and espe- 

 cially in his concerted pieces, Meyerbeer was 

 pronounced the first of living composers. 



After another interval of five years Meyerbeer 

 produced his next opera, the " Huguenots," a 

 grand and impressive historical pageant, illus- 

 trated by music worthy of the theme. Nothing 

 written for the stage had perhaps equalled the 

 massive harmonies, the magnificently- wrought 

 choruses and concerted passages, or the musical, 

 'ntellectual, and scenic beauties with which this 

 work was crowded. As a drama alone, it was 

 remarkable. The composer seemed returning 

 to the paths he had trod in early life, but with 

 the added strength of a giant, and putting aside 

 the influences of his later Italian training, fairly 

 conquered his audience without the aid of 

 melody. The latter quality was indeed not 

 wanting ; but it was subordinated to dramatic 

 propriety. Hence the opera did not immediately 

 create that enthusiasm with which Robert had 

 been received. The critics, at first overpowered 

 and astonished, finally acknowledged the merit 

 of the work, which is now generally considered 

 the composer's masterpiece. A long interval 

 of silence was succeeded in 1849 by the produc- 

 tion of the Prophets, an opera similar in char- 

 acter to the " Huguenots," and possibly written 

 with more pains. The art which had elaborated 

 the later work, however, became too conspicuous 

 in this to afford equal pleasure. Melody occu- 

 pied a still lower place, and it seemed but too 



evident that Meyerbeer was passing into another 

 stage of musical development, in which science 

 and art were to take the place of inspiration. 

 The Propkete, nevertheless, aided by the most 

 elaborate scenic effects the stage had then wit- 

 nessed, and by the interpretation of the first 

 singers of the day, had a great success all over 

 Europe, and is still frequently performed. Two 

 other works succeeded, VEtoile du Nord, pro- 

 duced in 1854, and "Dinorah" (Le pardon do 

 Ploermel) in 1858. Both show a decline of 

 power, though in many respects wrought out 

 with consummate art and musical knowledge, 

 and both have enjoyed less popularity than the 

 works immediately preceding them. Among 

 his minor works may be mentioned the " Camp 

 of Silesia," an opera rendered famous by the 

 performance of Jenny Lind, the musical drama, 

 " Struensee," and a number of compositions for 

 the church. For many years previous to his 

 death he had in his possession the finished score 

 of a new grand opera, L 1 Africaine, which with 

 characteristic fastidiousness he altered in minute 

 passages as the humor seized him. Scrupulously 

 particular as to whom he selected for his leading 

 parts, he was in quest of a soprano who should 

 meet his requirements when death overtook 

 him. The work has since been announced for 

 representation at Paris, in April, 1865. With 

 the exception of Eossini, he was by all odds the 

 greatest of living composers, and his decease 

 leaves a blank in the musical world which will 

 not readily be filled. 



MICHIGAN. The finances of the State of 

 Michigan appear to be in quite a favorable con- 

 dition. The debt of the State on November 

 30, 1864, was $3,541,149, as follows: 



State Debt (Interest- Bearing.) 



Canal bonds, 6 per cent, due January 1st, 

 18TS $100,00000 



Renewal loan bonds, 6 per cent, due January 

 1st 1878 216,000 00 



Two million loan bonds, 7 per cent, due Jan- 

 uary lst,1863 250,000 00 



Two million loan bonds, 6 per cent., duo Jan- 

 uary 1st, 1873. 500,000 00 



Two million loan bonds, 6 per cent, due Jan- 

 uary 1st, 1878 500,000 00 



Two million loan bonds, 6 per cent, due Jan- 

 uary lst,1883 750,000 00 



War loan bonds, 7 per cent, due January 1st, 

 1886 1,122,00000 



$3,438,000 00 

 Add non-interest bearing debt : 



Adjusted bonds. .'. $9,000 00 



" $5,000,000 " loan bonds 12,000 00 



"War loan bonds called in 1,150 00 



$140,000 outstanding, part paid. 

 " $5,000,000 " loan unrecognized, 



adjustable for 80,999 80 



108,149 &0 



TotalState debt $3,541,149 80 



During the last fiscal year the sum of $221,793 

 was added to the sinking fund of the State. 

 The principle on which its financial affairs are 

 conducted is, to raise by taxes from year to 

 year the funds required to meet the ordinary 

 and incidental expenses, leaving the sinking 

 fund to clear off the State debt. 



The receipts into the treasury during the last 



