Robert the Devil: Medieval Legend, Gothic Opera

Robert the Devil: Medieval Legend, Gothic Opera

From Bone and Sickle by Al Ridenour

June 6, 2026 · 46 min · Episode 156

About this episode

This episode explores the medieval legend of Robert the Devil and its transformation into a Gothic opera, highlighting key differences and cultural significance.

Robert the Devil is a supernatural medieval legend that inspired a 19th-century French opera, which incorporates key elements from a seminal Gothic novel. The opera and legend are substantially different but both interesting. We begin with Giacomo Meyerbeer’s 1831 opera, Robert le diable , which gained notoriety for a ballet sequence in Act III, which portrays an attempted seduction of the hero, Robert, Duke of Normandy, by the ghosts of corrupted nuns, freshly risen from their crypts. The scene is not found in the original legend, but as we learn, was borrowed from a particularly sensationalistic early Gothic novel, The Monk, written by Matthew Gregory Lewis in 1764. We also learn that Meyerbeer’s chief librettist, Eugène Scribe later went on to crib another storyline from Lewis’ The Monk for the 1854 opera by composer Charles Gounod, La nonne sanglante (“the bloody nun”). Rendering of cloister set for Paris Opera premiere. Along the way, we learn how Robert le diable helped save the financially imperiled Paris Opera after its royal subsidy had been withdrawn following the July Revolution of 1830. Along with public curiosity about the scandalous ballet, ticket sales…

People in this episode

Host: Al Ridenour

Topics covered

  • medieval legend
  • Gothic opera
  • 19th-century French opera
  • theatrical production
  • cultural impact
  • supernatural themes

Keywords

  • Robert the Devil
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer
  • Gothic novel
  • Matthew Gregory Lewis
  • Paris Opera
  • theatrical effects
  • 19th-century opera

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Robert le diable, The Monk, La nonne sanglante

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