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| Composers Biography |  |
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Jules Massenet
[ Life | Works | Operas | Photo Gallery | Home Page] |
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| The leading operatic composer of his generation in France, Jules Massenet entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of eleven and in 1863 won the Prix de Rome for his cantata "David Rizzio". After spending three years at the Villa Medici in Rome, he returned to Paris and achieved initial success with his one-act opera "La Grand’ Tante", followed by "Don César de Bazan" and "Marie-Magdeleine" which attracted the attention of other musicians, including Bizet. He maintained a dominant position in French opera, at least until the appearance of Debussy 's "Pelléas et Mélisande" which shows something of Massenet’s influence.
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| Of some three dozen stage works, "Manon", based on the novel "Manon Lescaut" by Abbé Prévost, is perhaps Massenet’s most popular opera. MIDI FILE - from "Manon": En ferment les Jeux (2'29'') The opera "Werther" is based on Goethe's Sorrows of the Young Werther, while "Thaïs" is known by name to many because of the famous violin solo, Méditation. The opera "Le Cid", based on the play by Corneille on the subject of the historical Spanish hero and first staged in Paris in 1885, has a spectacular second act ballet-fiesta, which forms part of a subsequent orchestral suite.
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