Although Meyerbeer is known primarily as an opera composer, and a French grand opera composer at that, he was also capable of mastering much smaller, more intimate forms. He composed various types of songs throughout his life, in German, Italian, and in French. Most often he chose poetry that was not of the highest caliber, or familiar with the public. He refrained from setting poetry that had already been set by others composers. But he turned the poetry which he did choose into delightful miniatures to be performed in the concert hall or the salon by star singers to show off their vocal skills, as well as their dramatic and expressive abilities. "Menschenfeindlich" translates to "The Misanthrope", and is a delightful description of the misanthropic personality. According to the poet, it is one who does not like the restrictions of reality, but also despises the delights of the fantasy and the imagination. It is one who hates himself and others, hates yesterday and today, hates the morning and the night. Although Meyerbeer could have chosen to take the pathos of this personality type seriously and composed a piece filled with operatic tragedy, the pianistic accompaniment and the vocal rhythms suggest a more jocose and even mocking attitude on the composers part. The short piece, of two strophes, is a delight. The poem was written by Giacomo's younger brother Michael Beer, who became somewhat successful as a writer of plays for the theater. Although not a poem of the standing of those by Goethe or Heine, it is an apt description of a character type and gives room for the composer to depict, in music, the throes and the contradictions of one who loves nothing, yet still must, somehow, exist in this life.

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