Jacob Liebman Beer (1791-1864) was a German Jewish composer who changed his name to Giacomo Meyerbeer to accommodate the Italian and French audiences for whom he wrote. His operas such as Robert le diable, L'Africaine, and Les Huguenots were wildly popular in the 19th century, but fell out of fashion due to Richard Wagner’s anti-Semitic attacks and Nazi policies. His works remain difficult to stage today due to their scale and technical difficulty, but he remains appreciated as an exemplar of 19th-century grand opera.