About the work
Opéra comique in three acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer to a libretto by Eugène Scribe, premiered on 16 February 1854 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. For parts of the score, Meyerbeer drew on music from his earlier, withdrawn Singspiel "Ein Feldlager in Schlesien" (1844).
Plot
Disguised as a carpenter under the name Péters Michaeloff, the Russian Tsar Peter meets the young Catherine, who is secretly serving as a soldier in place of her brother Georges. After falling in love with Catherine, who then disappears, Peter eventually keeps her at his side as "l'Étoile du nord," the guiding star of his reign.
Cultural significance
Catherine's celebrated Act III mad scene with two virtuoso obbligato flutes goes back to a number Meyerbeer had originally composed for the soprano Jenny Lind in the German version, "Ein Feldlager in Schlesien," and it remains one of the best-known concert numbers of French opéra comique.