Le prophète
Meanwhile, in Paris Meyerbeer began to seek new libretti, initially considering "Le prophète" by Scribe, and "Le cinq mars" by Henri Saint-Georges and eventually settling on Scribe's "Vasco da Gama" (later to become "L'Africaine"), which he contracted to complete by 1840. However, Meyerbeer had envisaged that the main role in "L'Africaine" would be written for Falcon; after the catastrophic failure of her voice in 1837, he turned instead to "Le prophète".