• Giacomo Meyerbeer. Grand opéra in five acts. 1863.
• Libretto by Eugène Scribe.
• First performance at the Paris Opéra on 28th April 1865.

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CHARACTERS

Sélika, a slave	soprano
Inès, daughter of Don Diego	soprano
Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese naval officer	tenor
Nélusko, a slave	baritone
Don Pédro, president of the Royal Council	bass
Don Diégo, an admiral & council member	bass
Don Alvar, a member of the council	tenor
Anna, confidante of Inès	mezzo-soprano
Grand Inquisitor of Lisbon	bass
High Priest of Brahma	baritone
Anna, attendant of Inès	mezzo-soprano

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The opera is set in Lisbon and on an island in the Indian Ocean: the period is the 16th century. Vasco da Gama is betrothed to Inès, and as the story opens has been away for two years. Inès recalls their parting. Her father, Don Diégo, insists that she marry Don Pédro, since now Vasco is surely dead. He returns, however, bringing with him two slaves, Sélika and Nélusko, and seeking support for further exploration, refused by the Grand Inquisitor, who finds nothing of Africa in the Bible. Vasco is imprisoned. Sélika, a queen in her own country, tries to comfort him, as he dreams of Inès, and prevents Nélusko killing him. Vasco sees in Sélika a possible companion in his enterprise, while Inès has purchased Vasco’s freedom by marrying Don Pédro. Inès and Don Pédro now set sail, piloted by the treacherous Nélusko, to be joined by Vasco, who seeks to protect Inès. The vessel is wrecked in a storm and the Portuguese are taken prisoner. Sélika is now queen once more, while the male prisoners are put to death, except for Vasco, saved by Sélika, who claims him as her husband and bids him escape. He refuses, but is later seen by her with Inès, who has not died, as others have, from the poisonous scent of the manchineel tree. Sélika now believes she will lose Vasco, and kills herself, joined in death by Nélusko.

L’Africaine is a characteristic example of French grand opéra, in all its magnificence of spectacle. Meyerbeer had the libretto as early as 1838, but the work was not completed until 1863 and was first performed in 1865, four years after the death of the librettist Scribe and a year after the death of the composer. The staging calls for elaborate effects, particularly in the scene on board ship, where interior cabins can be seen, and in the shipwreck of the third act, as well as in the ceremonies at the temple of Brahma in the fourth, where the people pay homage to their queen, Sélika, the African Maid of the title. In prison Sélika tries to calm the troubled Vasco, as he sleeps, with her Air du sommeil (Sleep aria), Sur mes genoux, fils du soleil (On my knees, son of the sun). This and the tenor Pays merveilleux (Wonderful country), sung by Vasco in the fourth act, with Nélusko’s earlier ballad Adamastor, roi des vagues profondes (Adamastor, king of the deep waves), may be heard in concert repertoire.