Massenet: A Chronicle of His Life and Times Review

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Massenet: A Chronicle of His Life and Times ReviewMusicologist Demar Irvine was repeatedly turned down in 1974 when he tried to publish his biography of French opera composer Jules Massenet. When no publisher would consider it, Irvine finally sent out a hundred typed copies to various places and assumed that was that. But Amadeus Press decided to offer his magnum opus, and here it is. There being no other recent book in English on Massenet, and precious little in French on the composer, it will have to do.
Irvine is conscientious about his subject to a fault, one of those writers who often does not seem to be able or willing to differentiate between what belongs in the main text, what belongs in the footnotes, and what is best left out altogether. Although the title warns us this is not merely a bio of Massenet, but one of his "Life and Times", things frequently can become a bit much. For example, whole paragraphs are taken up sorting out the locations of Parisian buildings in the last century. Endless minor artists and figures receive the luxury of short bios. At times these notes on Massenet's contemporaries threaten to overwhelm the central character! The result is a book that at 400 pages might easily be cut by scores of pages. I have no idea how much Carol Odlum, the editor, trimmed from the orignal typescript, but it most certainly wasn't near enough.
Despite these serious reservations, Irvine's work does offer an outstanding review of the life and works of Massenet. The operas are discussed in detail, with Irvine's incessant detailing paying dividends when it comes to the initial performances and casts, the public reaction, and so forth. I was most impressed with how remarkable an array of contemporary criticism is given on many works, and how sharp an eye some of the critics show - the writing on "Esclarmonde" has any number of apt phrases. Devotees of 19th Century opera will be happily served, for Irvine merrily relates for their delectation all the innumerable adventures and pitfalls of the Parisian stage of the Belle Époque.
Massenet the man emerges clearly - an extremely hard-working fellow with considerable talent. After a few tries he wins the Prix de Rome, comes back to France and marries well, survives the Franco-Prussian War, and has a Légion d'Honneur by July 1876: Throughout his life Massenet finds success and honor. An early admirer of Wagner, Massenet even at an early age shows himself to be a quick study and an artist at heart, listening to Wagner playing at the keyboard from Tannhäuser in 1860, the young Frenchman notes aprovingly how Wagner plays "like a musician, not at all like a pianist". Such charming moments - often taken from Massenet's own Memoirs, My Recollections are frequently found, delightful anecdotal oases in a larger sea of general facts.
Perhaps the most vital picture of the composer the book reveals is that of someone never satisfied, restless, willing to shift directions in a continuing almost radical path. In preparing the young American soprano Sibyl Sanderson for the title role in "Esclarmonde' Massenet worked with her every evening, while orchestrating the score mornings. At one point he pushed her so hard she quit in an uproar, returning however the next day. The same work received "twenty-two rehersals over two months at the Opéra Comique, then a full fifty-seven stage rehersals (including ten with orchestra)" over a period of another three months! Massenet scholar Gérard Condé points out how Massenet gives us large grand operas such as "le Roi de Lahore" or "Hérodiade", only to be followed up by the utterly different style and tone with "Manon". "With each new opera, Massenet seemed to reach a point of no return. By choosing subjects as antithetical as possible to the ones preceding them, he kept himself on a jagged course, continually casting aside solutions that had become outmoded." And it's so true - Massenet composes the overblown "Le Cid" after "Manon", then reverses himself completely yet again with the intimacy of "Werther" - only to create the wildly showy "Esclarmonde", a super-spectacular quasi-Wagnerian work composed for the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle.
Readers today, most curious about all those 'other' unknown operas, should be very pleased with the author's efforts on their behalf, with all manner of contemporary reviews and talk. Some of Irvine's chapters, the best ones, oveflow with so much activity and events the author's generally flat prose dazzles in reflection. Chapter 8 chronciles a historical record of such a superabundance of personal and cultural events - for once a reader might almost dare the author give more attention to details! And as the book preceeds other winning chapters emerge, chapters abounding with interest, balancing and assuaging the author's tendency to wallow in numbing minutiae.
All in all a very slow read, but an extremely useful work, perhaps to be faulted for giving us too much, sins of excess. For now Irvine's effort is surely the best introduction to Massenet. The author's enormous historical erudition does have its pluses along with its obvious tedium, and any reader wishing to put in the effort comes away with an excellent understanding of not only Massenet, but the entire Age his operas adorned. Amadeus includes a raft of photos of other composers and the many artists who appeared and premiered Massent's works. There are also original posters, some of these latter quite fabulous creations. As befits such a book, a large very inclusive 32 page index offers tremendous browsing and research opportunities. A bibliographical section, with notes and references covers the field. Finally, a short discography, several appendixes, including one listing all the peformances of Massenet operas in Paris from 1867-1915, and an appendix giving the composer's works, with all the songs listed in chronological groups.Massenet: A Chronicle of His Life and Times Overview

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