Jules Massenet was born in Montaud in the Loire region of France on May
12, 1842. He entered the Paris Conservatory when he was nine,
subsequently winning prizes in fugue and piano playing and, in 1863, the
Prix de Rome. Four years later his first opera, _La Grand’ Tante_, was
produced in Paris. During the Franco-Prussian War he was a member of the
National Guard. After the war, he achieved recognition as a composer
with his incidental music to _Les Érynnies_, an oratorio _Marie
Magdaleine_, and an opera _Le Roi de Lahore_. In 1878 he was elected to
the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the youngest man ever to receive this
honor, and was appointed professor of composition at the Paris
Conservatory. He held the latter post until his death with outstanding
distinction. His most significant operas appeared between 1880 and 1900,
and included _Hérodiade_ (1881), _Manon_ (1884), _Le Cid_ (1885),
_Werther_ (1892), _Thaïs_ (1894) and _Sapho_ (1897). He died in Paris on
August 13, 1912.
A style that had lyrical charm, tender feelings, and poetic content
placed Massenet with the foremost French composers for the lyric
theater. The same qualities are found to a large degree in his
instrumental compositions, and endow them with their immense audience
appeal. He had a vein of tenderness that was his uniquely, often
contrasting this with striking passion and intensity. A master of many
different moods and emotions, he was able to convey them in music that
is suave and polished in the best French tradition.
_Alsatian Scenes_ (_Scènes alsaciennes_) is one of Massenet’s most
popular orchestral compositions. It is the seventh of his suites for
orchestra and was written in 1881. For each of its four movements the
composer provided an explicit program. About the first movement, “Sunday
Morning” (“_Dimanche matin_”) the composer writes: “I recall with
particular delight the Alsatian village Sunday morning at the hour of
divine service; the streets deserted, the houses empty except for the
elderly ones who sun themselves before their doors. The church is full,
and the sacred hymns are heard at intervals in passing.” “The Tavern”
(“_Au cabaret_”) is described as the happy meeting place of his friends
“with its little windows framed with lead, garlanded with hops and
roses.... ‘Ho, Schmidt, some wine!’ And the songs of the forest rangers
going to shooting matches. Oh, the joyous life and the gay companions!”
“Under the Linden Trees” (“_Sous les tilleuls_”) depicts pictorially
“the edge of the fields on a Sunday afternoon, the long avenue of linden
trees, in the shadow of which, hand in hand, quietly talks a pair of
lovers.” The suite ends with “Sunday Evening” (“_Dimanche soir: Air
alsacien, Retraite française_”). “In the market place, what noise, what
movement! Everyone at the doorsteps, groups of young gallants in the
streets, and dances which embody in rhythm the songs of the country.
Eight o’clock! The noise of the drums, the blare of the trumpets—’tis
the retreat! The French retreat! And when in the distance the sound of
the drum died down, the women called their children in the street, the
old men relighted their big old pipes, and to the sounds of violins the
dance is joyously recommenced in smaller circles, with couples closer.”
The ballet music for _Le Cid_ is strikingly appealing for its exotic
melodies and lambent orchestral colors. This opera, text by Louis Gallet
and Edouard Blau, is based on Corneille’s tragedy; its première
performance took place in Paris on November 30, 1885. The setting is
12th century Burgos, in Spain, where Rodrigo called Le Cid, or The
Conqueror, kills Chimène’s father in a duel. She seeks vengeance but is
unable to carry it out because she has fallen in love with him. The
ballet music appears in the second scene of the second act. A public
square is alive and colorful with dancing crowds, and six dances are
performed in rapid succession, some with melodic and rhythmic material
derived by Massenet from Spanish folk sources. These are the dances:
“_Castillane_,” a highly rhythmic dance found in the Castille region of
Spain; “_Andalouse_,” a sinuous, gypsy-like dance from Andalusia;
“_Aragonaise_,” a dance popular in the Aragon district; “_Aubade_,” a
gentle lyrical section; “_Catalane_,” a dance popular in Catalonia;
“_Madrilène_,” a two-part dance from Madrid, the first quiet and
introspective, the second dynamic; and “_Navarraise_,” a dance from
Navarre.
The popular “_Élégie_,” a plangent melody muted in its grief, comes from
the incidental music to _Les Érynnies_ with which Massenet first won
acclaim in 1873. The play, by Charles Marie Leconte based on Aeschylus,
was produced with Massenet’s music at the Odéon in Paris. Here the
“_Élégie_” appeared as “_Invocation_,” scored for string orchestra.
Later on Massenet arranged this section for cello and piano, and it was
upon this occasion that he renamed the piece _Élégie_. It was later on
also transcribed for violin and piano, and adapted into a song with
lyrics by E. Gallet.
Three other sections from _Les Érynnies_ have almost as much emotional
appeal as the _Élégie_, but in varied moods. The “Entr’acte” is a
passionate song for unison violins over a disturbed accompaniment.
“Grecian Dance” begins with a vivacious dance tune for two flutes in
thirds. A slow dialogue ensues between oboes and clarinets, in which the
main subject has an Oriental identity. A fast section brings this
movement to a close. “_Scène religieuse_” is a graceful, at times
solemn, minuet in which a solo cello provides the main melody.
The famous opera _Manon_ (1884) has two delightful dance episodes that
are particularly well known, a gavotte and a minuet. _Manon_ was based
on the famous tale of Abbé Prévost, _L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux
et de Manon Lescaut_, adapted by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille. Its
setting is France in the 18th century, and in the spirit of that place
and time Massenet recreated two old-world dances, both of them appearing
in the first scene of the third act, during a festival-day celebration
in Paris. Before the curtain goes up, the graceful music of the minuet
is heard in the orchestra as an entr’acte. After the rise of the
curtain, and the appearance of Manon, she expresses her hedonistic
philosophy of life in a gavotte (“_Obéissons quand leur voix appelle_”).
This gavotte is often heard in an exclusively instrumental arrangement.
The _Phèdre Overture_ (1876) is another of Massenet’s frequently
performed orchestral compositions. The music closely follows the action
of the Racine tragedy, in which Phedre—daughter of King Minos and wife
of Theseus—falls in love with Theseus’ son, Hippolytus, who fails to
respond to her passion. The overture begins in a gloomy mood,
forecasting ominously the imminent tragedy awaiting Phedre and
Hippolytus. Phedre’s grief over her unreciprocated love is suggested by
a passionate subject for clarinet; a second equally passionate melody
brings us the picture of Hippolytus sent to his doom by an irate father.
Violins in unison now bring us a rapturous melody speaking of Phedre’s
love, while a fiery dramatic section that follows tells of the doom
awaiting Hippolytus at the hands of Neptune.
_Picturesque Scenes_ (_Scènes pittoresques_) is the fourth of Massenet’s
suites for orchestra, completed in 1873. There are four short, tuneful
sections: “March” (“_Marche_”), “Air de Ballet,” “Angelus” and “Bohemian
Festival” (“_Fête bohème_”). The religious music of the third movement,
“Angelus,” with its solemn tolling of bells, is the most popular section
of this suite, frequently performed separately from the other movements.
Second only to the “_Élégie_” in popularity among Massenet’s best-loved
melodies is the “Meditation” which comes from the opera _Thaïs_. This
excerpt is an orchestral entr’acte with violin obbligato heard just
before the first scene of the second act. The opera, libretto by Louis
Gallet based on the novel of Anatole France, describes the degradation
of Athanaël, a Cenobite monk, because of his unholy passion for Thaïs, a
courtesan. The radiant music of the “Meditation” describes Thaïs’
renunciation of a life of pleasure for one of the spirit.