Jules Massenet was a French composer of the Romantic era, celebrated for his operas, which were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Born: May 12, 1842, in Montaud, near Saint-Étienne, France
Died: August 13, 1912, in Paris, France
Massenet was the youngest child of a prosperous ironmonger and a talented amateur musician mother who gave him his first piano lessons. His family moved to Paris when he was young, where he later entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 11. He studied under Ambroise Thomas, whom he greatly admired, and won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1863 with his cantata “David Rizzio.”
His operatic career began with the production of “La Grand’ Tante” in 1867, and he went on to compose more than thirty operas. The most frequently staged are “Manon” (1884) and “Werther” (1892). Massenet’s music is known for its lyricism, sensuality, and theatrical aptness.
Massenet had a keen sense of theatre and what would succeed with the Parisian public. Despite some miscalculations, he produced a series of successes that made him the leading composer of opera in France during his time. He also became a professor at the Conservatoire, teaching composition from 1878 until 1896.
Among his students were notable composers like Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn, and Gabriel Pierné. After his death, Massenet’s works were somewhat neglected but have since been reassessed and many of them have been staged and recorded. His operas are now accepted as well-crafted and intelligent products of the Belle Époque12.
Massenet’s legacy includes a wide variety of music, including oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs, and, of course, his operas, which continue to be performed worldwide1. His “Méditation” from “Thaïs” remains part of the standard violin repertoire
"Le Cid", 3rd act, Palais Garnier, Paris, 1885: A long instrumental solo. The curtain rises. Chimene is beside herself. She rushes towards her father's murderer…
“Le Cid”, 3rd act, Palais Garnier, Paris, 1885: A long instrumental solo. The curtain rises. Chimene is beside herself. She rushes towards her father’s murderer and demands revenge – unaware that she is thus pronouncing the death sentence of her lover Rodrigo. Jules Massenet enhanced this dramatic scene by adding an obbligato alto clarinet in F, an instrument similar to the basset horn that was already rare in its day but was found in the orchestra of the Paris Opéra. Since Massenet allowed the use of a clarinet in A for performances at other houses, our new edition provides alternative versions for the solo instrument.
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