2-798-627 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Meyerbeer, 1845. Portrait of German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. 'At seven years of age he already performed on the piano at public concerts...At eighteen years of age he produced his first opera...Our composer had married in 1827, hut the death of his two children threw a gloom over this part of his life; he passed two years in retirement, and it was, doubtless, during this time that he brought forth those compositions of a more serious cast, which have so highly distinguished him as a composer of sacred music...Meyerbeer, though enormously rich, lives in a most unpretending style, and is not very partial to society. He carries his love for his art to an extraordinary degree. In other things, he is quiet and simple in his manners, but possesses a fund of good sense and general information. He is small of stature, his hair is black, and his face bears the type of his Hebrew origin'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.