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Thus according to the newest version of Massenet's opera 'Jean' is a mysterious prophet presumably a species of Mahdi who makes his appearance at the court of Moriame, King of Ethiopia.
Of Massenet's later works none has been more successful than 'Le Jongleur de Notre Dame' , which, besides winning the favour of Paris, has been performed at Covent Garden and in many German towns with much success. Here we find Massenet in a very different vein from that of 'Manon, or indeed any of his earlier works.
She sends Armand about his business and throws in her lot with Thorel, defying the mob and presumably sharing her husband's fate. Massenet's music is to a certain extent thrust into the background by the exciting incidents of the plot. The cries of the crowd, the songs of the soldiers and the roll of the drums leave but little space for musical development.
'Le Cid' and 'Le Mage' , two works produced at the Paris Opera, may be passed over as comparative failures, but 'Esclarmonde' marks an important stage in Massenet's career. The libretto is drawn from an old French romance.
The action of Massenet's opera begins in the courtyard of an inn at Amiens, where the Chevalier des Grieux happens to fall in with Manon Lescaut, who is being sent to a convent under the charge of her brother, a bibulous guardsman. Manon does not at all like the prospect of convent life, and eagerly agrees to Des Grieux's proposal to elope with him to Paris.
The combination is extremely piquant, and it says much for Massenet's individuality that he has contrived to blend such differing elements into a fabric of undeniable beauty. Alfred Bruneau is a composer whose works have excited perhaps more discussion than those of any living French composer.
In the first year six ordinary concerts were given, and, besides that, two sacred concerts with choirs, at which César Franck's Rédemption and Massenet's Marie-Magdeleine were performed. In 1874 the Odéon was abandoned for the Châtelet. This venture attracted some attention, and the concerts were patronised by the public; but the financial results were not great.
Massenet's "Elegie," as I afterwards learned a hush fell over the room and we three men sat staring at the sweet upturned profile, as her lovely throat gave forth the tender sad refrain: "Oh doux printemps d'autrefois, vertes saisons ou Vous avez fui pour toujours Je ne vois plus le ciel bleu Je n'entends plus les chants joyeux des oiseaux En emportant mon bonheur, O bien aimé tu t'en es allé Et c'est en vain que revient le printemps."
Massenet's latest work, 'Thérèse' , is a return to the breathless, palpitating style of 'La Navarraise. It is a story of the revolution, high-strung and emotional. Thérèse is the wife of the Girondin Thorel, who has bought the castle of Clerval, in the hope of eventually restoring it to its former owner, Armand de Clerval. Armand returns in disguise, on his way to join the Royalists in Vendée.
The curtain went up, I sitting there, the orchestra softly breathing Massenet's Elegy meant to be the music sent from the spirit world, the melody that I, Iistral, heard, whenever my dead mistress was present.... The orchestra finished the melody. It stopped and left the house in expectancy. A mistake had been made on the entrance-cue of little Lisel, my child-nephew.
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