Full name: Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet

Nationality: French

Birth: May 12, 1842 Death: August 13, 1912

Lived in: Montaud, ParisBologna, Italy & Paris, France
Instruments played: Harpsichord, horn, violin, singer

Operas: Wrote over 30 opera, some incomplete and others completely lost. His works include Cendrillon, Don Quichotte, Sapho, Hérodiade, Thaïs, Le Cid, Manon and of course, Werther – plus many more not performed today.

Employment: Composer, conductor, pianist

While still a schoolboy, Massenet was admitted to France’s principal music college, the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied under Ambroise Thomas, whom he greatly admired. After winning the country’s top musical prize, the Prix de Rome, in 1863, he composed prolifically in many genres, but quickly became best known for his operas. Between 1867 and his death forty-five years later he wrote more than forty stage works in a wide variety of styles, from opéra-comique to grand-scale depictions of classical myths, romantic comedies, lyric dramas, as well as oratorios, cantatas and ballets. Massenet had a good sense of the theatre and of 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 in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Like many prominent French composers of the period, Massenet became a professor at the Conservatoire. He taught composition there from 1878 until 1896, when he resigned after the death of the director, Ambroise Thomas. Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Pierné.

By the time of his death, Massenet was regarded by many critics as old-fashioned and unadventurous although his two best-known operas remained popular in France and abroad. After a few decades of neglect, his works began to be favourably reassessed during the mid-20th century, and many of them have since been staged and recorded. Although critics do not rank him among the handful of outstanding operatic geniuses such as Mozart, Verdi and Wagner, his operas are now widely accepted as well-crafted and intelligent products of the Belle Époque.

One of the most passionate arias in Werther is one of the main tenor arias:

Pourquoi me réveille…

Translation: VJC

Interesting Facts:

• Massenet’s father was a blacksmith; his mother was a talented amateur musician who was young Massenet’s first teacher.
• While attending the Paris Conservatory, Massenet won the top musical honor, the Prix de Rome.
• As a young man, Massenet often played the timpani in theater orchestras.
• During the Franco-Prussian war, Massenet served in the National Guard alongside his friend and fellow composer, Bizet.
• Massenet wrote more than thirty operas.
• Massenet was extremely close to his only child, Juliette.
• Massenet’s opera, La Navarraise, premiered at London’s Covent Garden in 1894 – a rare honor for a non-British composer and a significant marker of his high status at the time.
• An early riser, Massenet worked on composing from four o’ clock in the morning until midday.

The “Bel canto” era is clearly portrayed in Barber, classified
with florid, coloratura singing by the singers… especially Rosina!
Rossini was famous for this style; What other composers wrote
operas in this style and what are some of their operas?

Soprano

The highest female voice, similar to a flute in range and tone colour. Usually plays the heroine in the opera since a high, bright sound can easily suggest youth and innocence.

Tenor

The highest male voice, similar to a trumpet in range, tone colour and acoustical “ring.” Usually plays the hero or the romantic lead in the opera.

Mezzo-Soprano

The middle-range female voice, similar to an oboe in range and tone color. Called an alto in choral arrangements, can play a wide variety of characters including gypsies, mothers and even the part of a young man (trouser role).

Baritone

The middle-range male voice, similar to a French horn in tone color. Often plays the leader of mischief in comic opera or the villain in tragic opera, sometimes even the hero.

Contralto

The lowest female voice, similar to an English horn in range and tone color. Usually plays unique roles including fortune-tellers, witches and older women. Not very common.

Bass

The lowest male voice, similar to a trombone or bassoon in tone color. Usually portrays old, wise men, or foolish, comic men.