Africaine, L'

Opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer (libretto by Augustin Scribe), first produced at the Paris Opéra, France, on 28 April 1865, after Meyerbeer's death. The plot tells of the explorer Vasco da Gama who sails away from his native Portugal and is rescued by the tropic queen Sélika, whom he marries according to local custom. She later kills herself when he is seen with his former love Inés.