- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface
- List of Illustrations
- List of Musical Examples
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: The Business and Politics of Opera in Fin‐de‐Siècle Paris
- 1 The Ascent of Massenet
- 2 Manon
- 3 Around an American Muse
- 4 Esclarmonde
- 5 Massenet at the Apex
- 6 Werther
- 7 ThaÏs
- 8 Massenet Emasculated
- 9 Ernest Reyer as Berliozian
- 10 Sigurd
- 11 Camille Saint‐SaËns, Gounod, and the Wagnerians
- 12 Saint‐SaËns on the Cusp
- 13 Henry VIII
- 14 Édouard Lalo: Wagnerian <i>malgré lui</i>
- 15 Le Roi d'Ys
- 16 Emmanuel Chabrier: Wagnerian of the First Hour
- 17 Gwendoline
- 18 Le Roi malgré lui
- 19 Vincent d'Indy and Moral Order
- 20 The <i>Franckiste</i> as Wagner Critic
- 21 Fervaal
- 22 The Apotheosis of Ernest Chausson
- 23 Le Roi Arthus
- 24 Alfred Bruneau and Émile Zola
- 25 L'Attaque du moulin
- 26 Bohemian Montmartre, Anarchism, and Gustave Charpentier
- 27 Louise
- Epilogue by Way of <i>Pelléas et Mélisande</i>
- Appendix: Plot Summaries
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
Massenet at the Apex
Massenet at the Apex
- Chapter:
- (p.102) 5 Massenet at the Apex
- Source:
- French Opera at the Fin de Siecle
- Author(s):
Steven Huebner
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter focuses on Massenet's continued popularity following the opening of Esclarmonde. Massenet's success and creative powers seemed to reach a new level in the early 1890s. The brilliant 1891 reprise of Manon at the Opéra-Comique and the Vienna première of Werther formed a backdrop to the composers preoccupation with a new vehicle for Sanderson. That opera would be ThaÏs, which, together with Werther, ranks as Massenet's strongest work. ThaÏs is based on Anatole France's eponymous novel, serialized in La Revue des deux mondes in 1889.
Keywords: Werther, French opera, ThaÏs, Esclarmonde, Manon, Werther
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface
- List of Illustrations
- List of Musical Examples
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: The Business and Politics of Opera in Fin‐de‐Siècle Paris
- 1 The Ascent of Massenet
- 2 Manon
- 3 Around an American Muse
- 4 Esclarmonde
- 5 Massenet at the Apex
- 6 Werther
- 7 ThaÏs
- 8 Massenet Emasculated
- 9 Ernest Reyer as Berliozian
- 10 Sigurd
- 11 Camille Saint‐SaËns, Gounod, and the Wagnerians
- 12 Saint‐SaËns on the Cusp
- 13 Henry VIII
- 14 Édouard Lalo: Wagnerian <i>malgré lui</i>
- 15 Le Roi d'Ys
- 16 Emmanuel Chabrier: Wagnerian of the First Hour
- 17 Gwendoline
- 18 Le Roi malgré lui
- 19 Vincent d'Indy and Moral Order
- 20 The <i>Franckiste</i> as Wagner Critic
- 21 Fervaal
- 22 The Apotheosis of Ernest Chausson
- 23 Le Roi Arthus
- 24 Alfred Bruneau and Émile Zola
- 25 L'Attaque du moulin
- 26 Bohemian Montmartre, Anarchism, and Gustave Charpentier
- 27 Louise
- Epilogue by Way of <i>Pelléas et Mélisande</i>
- Appendix: Plot Summaries
- Selected Bibliography
- Index