Jules Massenet

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Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (;, .|group=n}} 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther'' (1892). He also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music.

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 , 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. Provided by Wikipedia
Showing 1 - 16 results of 16 for search 'Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912', query time: 0.04s Refine Results
  1. 1
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1992
    CD Audio
  2. 2
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1993
    CD Audio
  3. 3
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1995
    Other Authors:
    CD Audio
  4. 4
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1995
    Other Authors:
    CD Audio
  5. 5
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1992
    CD Audio
  6. 6
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1983
    CD Audio
  7. 7
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1997
    CD Audio
  8. 8
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1963
    Musical Score Book
  9. 9
    by Massenet, Jules, 1842-1912
    Published 1895
    Musical Score Book
  10. 10
    by Delibes, Léo, 1836-1891
    Published 1996
    Other Authors:
    CD Audio
  11. 11
    Published 1988
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    CD Audio
  12. 12
    Published 1990
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    CD Audio
  13. 13
    by Delibes, Léo, 1836-1891
    Published 1989
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    CD Audio
  14. 14
    Published 1989
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    CD Audio
  15. 15
    Published 1993
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    CD Audio
  16. 16
    by Dvorský, Peter, 1951-
    Published 1991
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    CD Audio
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