 Giacomo Meyerbeer ( born Jacob Liebmann Beer ; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864 ) was a German opera composer of Jewish birth who has been described as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century . With his 1831 opera Robert le diable and its successors , he gave the genre of grand opera ' decisive character ' . Meyerbeer 's grand opera style was achieved by his merging of German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition . These were employed in the context of sensational and melodramatic libretti created by Eugène Scribe and were enhanced by the up @-@ to @-@ date theatre technology of the Paris Opéra . They set a standard which helped to maintain Paris as the opera capital of the nineteenth century . 
