Review of the Music of La Esmeralda

This is probably going to be the most difficult part of the review. I don't listen to a lot of opera in my free time, so take this with a grain of salt.

Louise Bertin

I enjoyed the music of La Esmeralda.

The music was done by a young woman named Louise Bertin. She and Hugo became good friends and had worked on this opera on and off since shortly after the publication of Notre Dame de Paris. Louise was the daughter of very important people who owned a newspaper which became very unpopular with certain parts of the community.

After the failure of La Esmeralda, she never wrote another opera.

The music was so controversial during its run that it resulted in angry shouts from the audience.

Hector Berloiz

Apparently, certain elements of the music were derivative from the famous composer Hector Beloiz. The derivativeness was at its height during Quasimodo's "Aria of the Bells", which resulted in outraged cries of: 

"It's by Berloiz! It's by Berloiz!" 

Now, for the purpose of this review, I listened to a bit of Berloiz. While I can see the similarities, I'm not enough of an opera enthusiast to truly be an authority. 

I think the music is effective and at times, like in "Aria of the Bells", genuinely great. A lot of it just sort of blends together, but perhaps that's just how opera works. Like I said, I'm not an authority.

I also think that the music improves on the libretto. It just feels more lively and passionate, but it's still far from being perfect.

(The majority of my opinions regarding the music of La Esmeralda are based on the 2008 recording of it, as it is the most readily available. It is possible that the original music sounded different, but it is a bit unlikely.)

Next: Conclusion