Jules Massenet

Massenet was France’s leading opera composer during the Belle Époque, a period of great cultural and technological optimism shattered ultimately by the outbreak of the First World War. His flair for radiant melody and harmonic luxuriance graced a remarkable series of 32 operas, highlighted by two instrumental hits: the ballet music from Le Cid (1885) and the violin-led “Méditation” from Thaïs (1894). Massenet was born in Montaud in 1842 and, following lessons with his amateur musician mother, was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire aged 11. Although a brilliant pianist, it was his experiences playing percussion in theatre orchestras that lit his creative flame. His first major breakthrough came in 1884 with Manon, followed in 1892 by Werther. The incurably modest Massenet spent many of his operatic premieres at home with the family, yet never wanted for admirers, even when Debussy and Ravel were stealing all the headlines towards the end of his life. He died in 1912, aged 70.