Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Part 1 Composers
- 1 Beethoven's Game of Cat and Mouse
- 2 Schubert's Pendulum
- 3 Paganini, Mendelssohn and Turner in Scotland
- 4 Berlioz and Schumann
- 5 Alkan's Instruments
- 6 Liszt the Conductor
- 7 Wolf's Wagner
- 8 Massenet's Craftsmanship
- 9 Skryabin's Conquest of Time
- 10 Janáček's Narratives
- Part 2 Themes
- Index
- Eastman Studies in Music
8 - Massenet's Craftsmanship
from Part 1 - Composers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Part 1 Composers
- 1 Beethoven's Game of Cat and Mouse
- 2 Schubert's Pendulum
- 3 Paganini, Mendelssohn and Turner in Scotland
- 4 Berlioz and Schumann
- 5 Alkan's Instruments
- 6 Liszt the Conductor
- 7 Wolf's Wagner
- 8 Massenet's Craftsmanship
- 9 Skryabin's Conquest of Time
- 10 Janáček's Narratives
- Part 2 Themes
- Index
- Eastman Studies in Music
Summary
First of all, let us cite Reynaldo Hahn:
I have come to the conclusion that there are several classes of persons who do not like Massenet: (1) those who don't want to like him or who at least pretend not to want to like him; (2) those who do not like him because they detest the theatre; (3) the countless people who are jealous of him, who have failed, who are misunderstood, who are imbeciles; (4) heartless, mathematical, repressed people. Apart from them, everyone—that's to say any sensible person—loves Massenet, except perhaps the inhabitants of the planet Mars …
I have always classed myself with that great number of people who love Massenet, and I am conscious that a great part of that affection is admiration. Yet admiration and respect for Massenet as an artist are commonly denied him, more by omission than by deliberate intent. His name is not as often grouped with those of Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák and Strauss, and other such expert composers, as it should be. It is time to pay homage to the craftsmanship without which he could not have been an artist.
Massenet's professionalism perhaps militated against his chances of producing a unique masterpiece such as Pelléas et Mélisande, but it also protected him from the niaiseries of Satie. He was a composer with a natural talent for the theatre, like Verdi, although his upbringing and early career did not immediately steer him in that direction.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Beethoven's CenturyEssays on Composers and Themes, pp. 87 - 100Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008