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Jules Massenet

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Jules Massenet

Jules (Émile Frédéric) Massenet (May 12, 1842 – August 13, 1912) was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the greatest melodists of his era, Massenet was also the last: soon after his death, his style fell out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost total oblivion. Apart from Manon and Werther, his works were rarely performed. However, since the mid-1970s, many of his operas have seen periodic revivals.

Biography

Massenet was born in Montaud, then an outlying hamlet and now a part of the city of Saint-Étienne, in the Loire. His first music teacher was his mother. When he was eleven his family moved to Paris so that he could study at the Conservatoire there, which was temporarily interrupted by sickness of his father (iron-worker). To support himself at the time of his studies he worked as timpanist for six years at the Théâtre Lyrique, playing also other percussion instruments in other theatres, or as a pianist in the Café de Belleville.

Although, initially, some of his teachers did not predicted for him any career in music, in 1862 he won the Grand Prix de Rome and spent three years in Rome. His first opera was a one-act production at the Opéra-Comique in 1867, but it was his dramatic oratorio Marie-Magdeleine (first performed in 1873) that won him praise from the likes of Tchaikovsky and Gounod. His real mentor and protector was the composer Ambroise Thomas, however, a man with contacts in theatrical circles, and, later, also his publisher, Georges Hartmann, whose connections with journalistic circles helped him to become better known in years of difficult and uncertain start. Even Massenet's marriage (in 1867, to Louise-Constance de Gressy) helped him a great deal in social circles, so important in that era.

Massenet took a break from his composing to serve as a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War, but returned to his art following the end of the conflict in 1871. From 1878 he was professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory where his pupils included Gustave Charpentier, Reynaldo Hahn and Charles Koechlin. His greatest successes were Manon in 1884, Werther in 1892, and Thaïs in 1894. Notable later operas were Le jongleur de Notre-Dame, produced in 1902, and Don Quichotte, produced in Monte Carlo 1910, with the legendary Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin in the title-role.

In addition to his operas, he also composed concert suites, ballet music, oratorios and cantatas and about two hundred songs. Some of his non-vocal output has achieved widespread popularity, and is commonly performed: for example the Méditation religieuse from Thaïs, which is a violin solo with orchestra, as well as the Aragonaise, from his opera Le Cid and Élégie for solo piano. The latter two pieces are commonly played by piano students.

Massenet died in Paris at age 70, after suffering from a long illness (cancer).

Being a very fertile composer (over 25 operas), he never composed them "at the piano" (as so many other composers do), but entirely from his memory and imagination. That ability greatly helped him to achieve such success in the orchestration of his works.

He also was known to avoid all public dress rehearsals and performances of his works, frequently being informed of his own successes by others.

Compositions

File:Massenet.jpg
Massenet
Massenet at his home in Égreville, near Fontainebleau.
Massenet, c. 1910.

Operas

Oratorios and Cantatas

Ballets

Orchestral compositions

Song collections and cycles

  • Poëme d'Avril (Armand Silvestre), op. 14, songs, declaimed poems and piano solos, c.1866, published 1868
  • Poëme pastoral (Florian and Armand Silvestre), baritone, 3 female voices, piano, 1870-72, published 1872
  • Chansons des bois d'Amaranthe (M. Legrand, after Redwitz), four solo voices (SATB) and piano, 1900, published 1901

Songs

  • À Colombine (Serenade d’Arlequin) (Louis Gallet)
  • À la Trépassée (Armand Silvestre)
  • À la Zuecca (Alfred de Musset)
  • À Mignonne (Gustave Chouquet)
  • Adieu (Complainte) (Armand Silvestre)
  • Adieux (Gilbert)
  • Anniversaire (Armand Silvestre)
  • Aubade (Gabriel Prévost)
  • Automne (Paul Collin)
  • Berceuse (Gustave Chouquet)
  • Bonne nuit! (Camille Distel)
  • Ce que disent les cloches (Jean de la Vingtrie)
  • C'est l'amour (Victor Hugo)
  • Chant Provençal (Michel Carré)
  • Crépuscule (Armand Silvestre)
  • Dans l'air plein de fils de soie (Armand Silvestre)
  • Declaration (Gustave Chouquet)
  • Élégie (Louis Gallet)
  • Epitaphe (Armand Silvestre)
  • Être aimé (Jules Massenet after Victor Hugo)
  • Guitare (Victor Hugo)
  • La mort de la cigale (Maurice Fauré)
  • La Veillée du Petit Jésus (André (Theuriet)
  • La vie d'une rose, op. 12 no. 3 (Jules Ruelle)
  • L'air du soir emportati (Armand Silvestre)
  • L'âme des oiseau (Elena Vacarescu)
  • Le portrait d'une enfant, op. 12 no. 4 (Pierre de Ronsard)
  • Le Sais-Tu? (Stéphan Bordèse)
  • Le Sentier Perdu (Paul de Choudens)
  • Le verger (Camille Distel)
  • Les alcyons (Joseph Antoine Autran)
  • Les bois de pins (Camille Distel)
  • Les enfants
  • Les Femmes de Magdala (Louis Gallet)
  • Les mains (Noel Bazan)
  • Les Oiselets (Jacques Normand)
  • L'esclave, op. 12 no. 1 (Théophile Gautier)
  • Lève-toi (Armand Silvestre)
  • Loin de Moi ta Lèvre Qui Ment (Jean Aicard)
  • Madrigal (Armand Silvestre)
  • Musette (Jean Pierre Claris de Florian)
  • Narcisse à la Fontaine (Paul Collin)
  • Néére (Michel Carré)
  • Nouvelle chanson sur un vieil air (Victor Hugo)
  • Nuit d'Espagne (Louis Gallet)
  • Ouvre tes yeux bleus (Paul Robiquet)
  • Pensée d'automne (Armand Silvestre)
  • Pour qu'à l'espérance (Armand Silvestre)
  • Prélude (Armand Silvestre)
  • Première Danse (Jacques Clary Jean Normand)
  • Puisqu’elle a Pris ma Vie (Paul Robiquet)
  • Que l'heure est donc brève (Armand Silvestre)
  • Rêvons, c'est l'heure (Paul Verlaine)
  • Riez-vous (Armand Silvestre)
  • Rondel de la Belle au bois (Julien Gruaz)
  • Roses d’Octobre (Paul Collin)
  • Sérénade (Moliére)
  • Sérénade aux mariés, op. 12 no. 2 (Jules Ruelle)
  • Sérénade de Zanetto ([[François Coppée)
  • Sérénade du passant (François Coppée]])
  • Si tu veux, Mignonne (Abbé Claude Georges Boyer)
  • Soir de rêve (Antonin Lugnier)
  • Soleil couchant (Victor Hugo)
  • Sonnet (Georges Pradel)
  • Sonnet matinal (Armand Silvestre)
  • Sonnet Payen (Armand Silvestre)
  • Souhait (Jacques Normand)
  • Sous les branches (Armand Silvestre)
  • Souvenez-vous, Vierge Marie! (Georges Boyer)
  • Souvenir de Venise (Alfred de Musset)
  • Stances (Gilbert)
  • Sur la source (Armand Silvestre)
  • Un adieu (Armand Silvestre)
  • Un souffle de parfums (Armand Silvestre)
  • Voici que les grans lys (Armand Silvestre)
  • Voix suprême (Antoinette Lafaix-Gontié)
  • Vous aimerez demain (Armand Silvestre)

Media

Pleurez, pleurez, mes yeux From Le Cid (1885). Sung by Marguerita Sylva in 1910.
O souverain, O juge, O père! From Le Cid (1885). Sung by Enrico Caruso in 1916.
Manon! avez-vous peur...On l'appelle Manon From Manon (1884), performed by Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Farrar in 1912.
Ah! fuyez, douce image From Manon (1884). Recorded in 1910 by Aristodemo Giorgini for Edison Records.
Notre Père Performed by l'Atelier Vocal des Herbiers
Problems playing these files? See media help.

Notes

  1. Jules Massenet Dies Suddenly, New York Times, August 14, 1912
  2. Hammerstein: In Memorial, New York Times, August 15, 1912

References

External links

Scores and Vocal Scores on Indiana University Bloomington Libraries:

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