Meditation from Thais
Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
In his day Jules Massenet was the Andrew Lloyd-Webber of his day: an enormously prolific, popular, commercially canny purveyor of operatic sweet-meats gobbled up by an adoring public all over the world. Never before or since had French opera achieved such an international following. Most of his operas (rather like those of his contemporaries Puccini and Richard Strauss) focused upon fascinating female protagonists, with more than a hint of a deliciously alluring erotic element designed to titillate and fascinate audiences.
Among the more “scandalous” Massent confections was Thais, first performed in 1894. This tale of a “courtesan, ” whose life becomes entangled with that of an austere “holy man, ” who progressively yields to her attractions---while at the same time SHE becomes drawn to his spiritual purity, stirred up a storm of comment, protest and sheer fascination on the part of the public and critics of the time. The title role was designed for a young Californian soprano, Sibyl Sanderson, who had a lovely voice, was quite beautiful, and known to be one of a long chain of Massenet mistresses. On the opera’s opening night Ms. Sanderson’s costume accidentally (?) came undone, revealing a fetching bosom, which more than stole the show, and added all the more to the uproar. To this day Thais has never quite lived down its torrid reputation.
All that stands in stark contrast (musically speaking) with the famous “Meditation, ” which forms an entr’acte at the opera’s midpoint. Justly famed as a work of intense emotion of a strangely ambiguous spiritual character---it is as often played at funerals as at weddings----the Meditation is heard as an extended violin melody hovering above a hushed string orchestra background. Vintage Massenet, the textures are lush, the melodic element smooth and creamy, and (mirroring the opera’s plot) nicely balanced between the sensual and the spiritual.
NCO concert
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