Massenet

Jules Massenet and Henri Caïn’s 1899 rendition of the Cinderella story.

In Jules Massenet’s ultra-Romantic opera, “Thais,” that irresistible force is the title character, a woman who worships Venus, sees sex as sacred and oversees orgies while making a very lucrative living as a courtesan.

Massenet had the delicious idea of writing Prince Charming also for a female voice, which, for a modern audience (or at least this member of the modern audience) introduced a subtle gay subtext.

Arguably the most representative French opera composer of his era (the Belle Époque ), Massenet was a prolific and versatile writer whose works cover a wide variety of themes.

Huebner, p. 222 Huebner observes that Saint-Saëns was more conventional than Massenet so far as through composition is concerned, more often favouring discrete arias and ensembles, with less variety of tempo within individual numbers.

In a 2005 study, the musical scholar Steven Huebner contrasts the two composers: "Saint-Saëns obviously had no time for Massenet's histrionics".

Mischa Elman playing the Meditation from Massenet's opera Thais, recorded in 1919.

Retrieved 15 February 2015 (subscription required) Although Saint-Saëns maintained an amicable relationship with Massenet, he privately disliked and mistrusted him.