Jules Massenet | Natalie Massenet | Sapho (Massenet) | Massenet's |
He decided to pursue studies in composition on his own by analyzing the scores of the great works by master composers like Bach, Mozart, Wagner, Massenet, and Franck among others.
At the Royal Opera House, Sharp sang in the chorus in the first post-war production, Purcell's The Fairy Queen, then in the 1947 productions of Bizet's Carmen, Massenet's Manon and Mozart's The Magic Flute.
Mary Garden, the star-power and resident genius of Civic, never happy with the new opera house, retired abruptly after a performance of Massenet's Le jongleur de Notre-Dame at the end of the 1931/2 season.
Campanini was known for his association with French opera, and introduced numerous works to the United States; these included Hérodiade, I gioielli della Madonna, Louise, Pelléas et Mélisande, Monna Vanna, Jules Massenet's Sapho, and Thaïs.
His Metropolitan Opera debut took place two years later when he created the role of Emperor Phorcas in the Met's premiere of Massenet's Esclarmonde.
Massenet: Sapho: Air le la Lampe ; Werther: (Charlotte, highlights) Prière, Air des lettres, Oui, c'est moi (with Charles Friant, tenor), Albert est de retour, Mort de Werther, Air je dit vrai, Va, ma laisse couler mes larmes, Ah!
Orchestral extracts from operas with the Opéra-Comique Orchestra covered Borodin Prince Igor Polovtsian Dances, Debussy L'Enfant Prodigue and Massenet Manon ballet music, as well as music by Bruneau and Wagner.
He sang a wide repertoire encompassing material from French composers like Gounod and Massenet to the Italian grand operas of Verdi, the verismo operas of Mascagni, and the German operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
For the gala re-opening of La Vie de Bohème at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in 1875, Granier appeared in Act I as Musette, singing "La Jeunesse et l'amour" (with words by Meilhac and music by Massenet); likewise a song for Esmeralda "Mon père est oyseau, ma mère est oyselle" was composed by Massenet in 1879 for her appearance in Notre-Dame de Paris.
Like other French operas of the period, Lakmé captures the ambience of the Orient seen through Western eyes, which was periodically in vogue during the latter part of the nineteenth century and in line with other operatic works such as Bizet's The Pearl Fishers and Massenet's Le roi de Lahore.
During her career, Cavalieri sang with other prominent singers, including Giuseppe Anselmi, Mary Garden (the world premiere of Massenet's Chérubin, 1905), Mattia Battistini, Titta Ruffo, Feodor Chaliapin, Nikolay Figner, Antonio Scotti, Vanni Marcoux, Giuseppe Zanatello, Tito Schipa, and the French tenor Lucien Muratore, whom she married in 1913 after his divorce from soprano Marguerite Bériza.
She was a good friend of Jules Massenet and used to sing for Parisian aristocratic salons, for example at Mme Lemaire's hôtel particulier, where Massenet, Marcel Proust, Countess Greffulhe, Camille Saint-Saëns, Reynaldo Hahn, etc. where frequent guests.
The first Massenet Festival took place in November 1990 when the opera Cléopâtre and the oratorio La Vierge were presented.
His repertoire for the stage included Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Germont in La Traviata, Lescaut in Manon by Massenet, the Escamillo in Carmen, Marcello in Puccini's La Boheme, and Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana.
For Decca/London 'Phase 4' he recorded a selection of solo-violin-and-orchestra arrangements made by himself (short pieces by Tchaikovsky, Massenet, Korngold, etc.) under the pseudonym Josef Sakonov in which he also conducted the London Festival Orchestra with his violin bow (London 444 786-2).
Benedetti's debut album released on the Deutsche Grammophon label in April 2005 includes Szymanowski's Concerto No. 1, the Chausson Poème, the Havanaise by Saint-Saëns, and a trio of contemplative miniatures by Massenet, Brahms (arranged by Jascha Heifetz) and John Tavener, the last of which, Fragment for the Virgin, was written for Nicola.
Le jongleur de Notre-Dame, opera in three acts by French composer Jules Massenet (libretto by Maurice Léna); first performed in 1902