 This did not prevent the French master of operetta, Jacques Offenbach, from assigning the villain's role in "The Tales of Hoffmann "to a big-voiced baritone for the sake of dramatic effect.Other 19th-century French composers like Meyerbeer, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Georges Bizet and Jules Massenet wrote attractive parts for baritones, too.These included Nelusko in "L'Africaine" (Meyerbeer's last opera), Mephistopheles in "La damnation de Faust "(a role also sung by basses), the Priest of Dagon in "Samson and Delilah", Escamillo in "Carmen", Zurga in "Les pêcheurs de perles", Lescaut in "Manon", Athanael in "Thaïs "and Herod in "Hérodiade".