All critical cavil (a surfeit of detail, less than elegant writing,
etc.) is swept away by the fact that this book addresses a pressing
and long-standing need: a full, well-researched, carefully
structured biography - in English - of one of the most underrated,
unfairly patronized composers of the past 150 years. While there
are many good studies of Puccini in English, Massenet - arguably
his superior - has received nothing approaching his due. Author
Irvine (School of Music/Univ. of Washington) rectifies this
situation with an opera-by-opera discussion interspersed among the
facts of Massenet's life; he also illuminates the French social and
artistic world at the end of the last century of which Massenet was
an important (and popular) adornment. (Kirkus Reviews)
This is a meticulously researched and superbly detailed biography
of composer Jules Massenet, a musical prodigy who entered the Paris
Conservatory at the age of ten in 1853 and was at the heart of
Parisian musical life until his death in 1912. During his lifetime
Massenet was one of the best known and most highly regarded
musicians in all Europe. Although his works fell out of vogue for
several decades after his death, the 1970s and 80s brought a
renewal of interest in his work and a welcome series of new
performances. Relying on primary sources for firsthand information,
Irvine profiles the composer and draws a rich portrait of the
fascinating era in which Massenet lived. The narrative begins in
1748 with the birth of Massenet's grandfather, details the
composer's early years and family life, traces his educational
career, and highlights important events in his life. This carefully
documented biography of Massenet and his milieu is lively and
readable, conveying a vivid sense of the life of a successful
musician in the late nineteenth century. Along the way one meets
numerous composers, conductors, singers, publishers, artists,
writers, and critics - everyone who contributed to the exciting
cultural ferment of the time. Massenet's Paris was the city of
expositions, a magnet for artistic talent and innovative ideas. As
Massenet composed his first operas, Cezanne, Degas, Monet, Renoir,
and their compatriots were unveiling the new Impressionism; Bizet,
Faure, Wagner, Offenbach, Debussy, and Saint-Saens were his musical
contemporaries. Great operatic performers such as Sibyl Sanderson,
Emma Calve, Mary Garden, Geraldine Farrar, and Feodor Chaliapin
were eager to star in the premier of anynew work by Massenet. The
composer had many eminent students, including Gustave Charpentier,
Lucien Hillemacher, and Reynaldo Hahn. In this period of
extraordinary artistic vitality, Massenet was applauded by his
arch-rival Saint-Saens as a "sparkling diamond" of French music.
Alfred Bruneau and Claude Debussy penned tributes upon his death,
and Saint-Saens memorably commented, "Massenet has been much
imitated; he imitated no one".
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