in Schlesien, a celebration of the Hohenzollern dynasty ruling in Berlin and their illustrious ancestor Frederick the Great, had already been adapted into a piece for Vienna under the title Vielka in 1847 - Vienna being the capital of the ruling Habsburg dynasty, a glorification of the Hohenzollerns would not have been appropriate. Meyerbeer's inherited wealth and his duties as official court composer to King Frederick William IV of Prussia meant that there was no hurry to complete the opera, and he and Scribe worked on the piece for more than four years before its premiere. Peter the Great did travel through Western Europe under the assumed name "Peter Michaeloff" and worked incognito for a time on a wharf as a shipbuilder. His second wife Catherine's origins are obscure; she worked as a servant for a time and seems to have had a connection with the Russian army, which provided the basis for the switch of the libretto from Frederick the Great of Prussia to Peter the Great of Russia. These adventures of Peter the Great while working in disguise as a shipbuilder in Western Europe had already served as the basis for numerous comic operas including Il borgomastro di Saardam by Donizetti, 1827, and Zar und Zimmermann by Albert Lortzing, 1837. Performance history L'étoile du nord was first performed at the Salle Favart by the company of the Opéra-Comique, Paris, on 16 February 1854. It was a big success, and in the following year was given in Dresden under the composer's baton, with Jenny Ney. It was soon given in all the major theatres of Europe, North Africa, and the Americas. The Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company staged the work's United States premiere on September 24, 1856, at the Academy of Music in New York City. The opera stayed in the repertory throughout most of the 19th century, but virtually disappeared by the early 20th century. However, the two big coloratura showpieces – the prayer and barcarolle in act 1 and the air with two flutes in act 3 – were still occasionally recorded by famous prima donnas such as Amelita Galli-Curci and Luisa Tetrazzini. The work has been revived in recent years: by Opera Rara in 1975, at Wexford (with Elizabeth Futral as Cathérine) in 1996 and by in Kokkola and Helsinki, Finland, in 2017. Music Most of the music in the piece is new, not adapted from