Jules Massenet
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Jules Massenet
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. However, his style fell out of favor not long after his death; and, except Manon, his works were rarely performed. Since the mid-1970s, many of his operas have seen periodic revivals.

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Biography

Massenet was born in Montaud, then an outlying hamlet and now a part of the city of Saint-Étienne, in the Loire. When he was eleven his family moved to Paris so that he could study at the Conservatoire there. To support himself at that time he worked as timpanist for six years at the opera house. [1]

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 that won him praise from the likes of Tchaikovsky and Gounod.

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 at age 70, after suffering from a long illness (cancer).[2] [3]

Compositions

Massenet
Massenet
Massenet at his home in Égreville, near Fontainebleau.
Massenet at his home in Égreville, near Fontainebleau.
Massenet, c. 1910.
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 (Louis Charles 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 (Vicomte Victor Marie 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 Vicomte Victor Marie Hugo)
  • Guitare (Vicomte Victor Marie 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 (Vicomte Victor Marie 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 (Vicomte Victor Marie 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 (Louis Charles 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

Notes

  1. ^ Both A. Hervey in his Massenet's biography (see external link) and Q. Eaton in Opera News (1976, On The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Esclarmonde) gave account of Massenet playing timpani in opera house, differing, however, where it took place: in Paris Grand Opéra or Théâtre Lyrique in Paris. Mr. Eaton mentions that Massenet witnessed disaster of Paris' premiere of Tannhäuser from behind his kettledrums while playing at Paris Opéra in 1861.
  2. ^ Jules Massenet Dies Suddenly, New York Times, August 14, 1912
  3. ^ 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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