Meyerbeer’s first opera, Jephtas Gelübde, has a libretto by the German academic Alois Schreiber, based on a Biblical theme taken from chapters 11–12 of the Book of Judges. The story centres on the vow the ancient Israelite Judge made to God in return for victory over the enemy: “If thou wilt give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious . . . I will offer him up for a burnt offering”. The first person he was fatefully to meet was his daughter whom he offered in sacrifice after a time of mourning in the hills...