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Bob’s
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Reviews — The New York Times
In The New York Times - August 15, 1912
HAMMERSTEIN ON THE DEAD MASSENET
Last of the great Melodists-
A Composer Who Wrote From the Heart
When Jules Massenet died yesterday a great musician and opera composer passed away. It may almost be said of him that he was the last of the great melodists. While other composers of the day were striving for unusual orchestral effects and strange combinations of instruments he was writing melody. It seems to me that most opera composers write for musicians. Massenet wrote for the public.
The fact of the matter is that he wrote from the heart. He had a great fund of melody in his soul, and it had to come out. He could have continued to write for some time to come. To composer had become a function with him much like breathing or eating for the ordinary person. Some of his latest operas contained a great deal of his best work, perhaps his best. it is certain that he will live, that Massenet’s works will be heard all over the world for a long time to come.
That is why the public likes Massenet’s music-because it is melodious. Debussy is only harmony; Strauss invents strange combinations of instruments and makes weird dramatic effects. The other modern composers seem bent on imitating Debussy or Strauss. Massenet went on writing melody. His orchestration is often simple. Consider the celebrated “Meditation” from “Thaïs.” There is scarcely any background-just enough for the melody in the violin to float upon. And everybody remembers it, and carries it away in his heart and mind.
I first met Massenet the summer after my first season at the Manhattan Opera House. It was in Paris, and we dined together. I considered it strange that the most popular composer in Paris had never achieved any lasting success in New York.
“Manon” and “Werther,” two works which alone would have made his fame and fortune in Europe had not succeeded here. “Le Cid” had been a dismal failure. He was very desirous that French composers-not only himself, but others-be given a chance in America. And with him I went to his publisher, Heugel, and arranged to present “Thaïs.” I also arranged to produce Charpentier’s “Louise” and Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande.”
“Thaïs” looked like a failure at first. There was about $200 in the balcony and gallery at the second performance. Then business picked up, and soon “Thaïs” became one of the most popular operas of the répertoire. The public taste had been turned toward French opera, and after that “Louise,” “Pelléas,” “Samson et Dalila,” all became great successes.
After that I produced other of Massenet’s works, not all with equal success, “Sapho,” “Herodiade,” “Grisélidis,” and “Le Jongleur de Notre Dame.” I had given “La Navarraise” during my first season, and I have produced “Don Quichotte” in London. Since then these works have become popular all over Europe, as they never had been before. “Le Jongleur de Notre Dame” was the success of the season at the Vienna Opera last Winter. Massenet was grateful to me. It was he who procured for me a French decoration.
It was my own idea to produce “Le Jongleur” in this country with Mary Garden in the rôle which had been written for a tenor. I heard Salignac sing the part at the Opéra Comique, and I asked Carr‚ if it would not be possible to find another tenor to do it over here. He didn’t know of any. The man must be small, with a delicate voice like a young boy’s. “Why couldn’t a woman sing it?” I asked myself. I talked to Massenet about the matter, and he was certain that it would ruin his opera. But he didn’t care. I could try it if I wanted to. Like Maeterlinck he had no interest in anything he had written, once is was written. He sent his scores to the publishers and then forgot them. New melodies seethed in his brain.
As is well known, Mary Garden made one of her greatest successes in “Le Jongleur de Notre Dame.” It is one of the parts in which she will always be remembered, and it would be impossible now to have the work performed in this country by a man. In fact I tried it once and saw that it would be impossible.
Massenet is now considered one of the popular operatic composers in this country. so are other French composers who were introduced by me. “Thaïs” is an important feature in the modern répertoire. So is “Le Jongleur.” “Manon” at last has come into its own in this country. It is probable that “Werther,” which is full of charming melody, could be revived with success here now.
I spoke of Massenet’s wonderful gift of melody. He had another gift which has made his operas unusually successful. He knew to what books he could hang his special kind of music. Almost without exception his librettos are works sure to be successful in the theatre and at the same time are of a character consistent with the style of music he wrote. Men who wrote books for him knew what he wanted. Often he suggested the subject and treatment himself.
Women played a large part in his life and in his music. He wrote operas for many of them. That was the tribute he paid to their beauty and charm. He was unerring in his instinct, and as “Thaïs” and “Esclarmonde” fitted Sibyl Sanderson so “Sapho” fitted Emma Calvé and “Don Quichotte” fitted Lucy Arbell.
He must have been immensely rich. The Society of Authors and Composers is making it easier for the French composer to live. Many good works have died because all the composer wanted was a production. These obscure men saw their operas put on the stage, and then perished in a garret. There have been few Rossinis. Donizettis, Wagners, Meyerbeers and Verdis. I say that Massenet belongs to this number.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN
New York, Aug. 14, 1912.
Last updated December 30, 2006