Two operas for one novel

The relationship of Le Pré aux clercs and Les Huguenots to Mérimée’s novel Chronique du règne de Charles IX, the direct source of the opéra-comique and a more distant point of reference for the grand-opéra, sheds light on their respective and distinct dramaturgies. Is Mérimée’s work closer in spirit, in tone, in historical vision, to the ‘demi-caractère’ (semi-serious nature) of opéra-comique? Or did the violence of its story find spectacular fulfilment on the stage of the Opéra?