- 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 Emasculated
Massenet Emasculated
- Chapter:
- (p.160) 8 Massenet Emasculated
- Source:
- French Opera at the Fin de Siecle
- Author(s):
Steven Huebner
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter focuses on criticisms against Massenet's appeal to women. The reception of Massenet was strongly gendered from Manon on, and critics portrayed audiences as a reflection of the music itself, and vice versa. This typecasting as a specialist in feminine behaviour, with corresponding applications to musical style, has meant that Massenet always faced an uphill battle with critics when it came to larger heroic subjects such as Le Cid, or male characters such as Werther and Don Quichotte. It was in the Wagnerian camp of critics — the Fourcauds, the Ernsts, the Servières — that the invective against Massenet became most virulent: his supposed insincerity, desire for flattery, superficiality, all tainted more or less (depending on the writer and the circumstance) with the brush of femininity.
Keywords: French opera, criticism, femininity, Wagnerian, Le Cid
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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
