Jules Massenet (1842-1912) was a French opera composer during the Romantic period. He was born into a middle-class family in Montaud, France. He took piano lessons from his mother, an amateur musician, until he was old enough to enroll at the Paris Conservatory. To support himself while he was studying, he worked in the pit orchestra at the Théâtre-Lyrique and taught piano lessons. By 1859, he had won the conservatory’s top prize for piano performance and had gone on to study composition with opera composer Ambroise Thomas. In 1863, he was awarded the coveted Prix de Rome for composition, giving him the opportunity to spend three years furthering his education at the Villa Medici in Rome. 

When Massenet returned to Paris, he received a commission to write a one-act opera for the Parisian Opéra-Comique, entitled La Grand'Tante. After a brief break to serve in the Franco-Prussian War, Massenet began prolifically composing operas and other stage music. Though his first large-scale opera was a flop, he soon rose to fame through writing incidental music for the drama Les Érinnyes and his popular oratorio Marie-Magdeleine. His first full opera to achieve success was his 1877 Le roi de Lahore, which spread to several other countries in Europe. By this time, Massenet had cemented his reputation as an opera composer and has been offered a prestigious teaching position at the Paris Conservatory. 

Massenet’s most famous opera, Manon, premiered in 1884. It became an enormous international success, and remains one of his two most frequently performed works, along with Werther (1892). Over the remainder of his career, he produced several more prosperous operas, including Le Cid (1885), Thaïs (1894), Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame (1902), and Don Quichotte (1910.) Though most of these works are no longer staged, music such as the famous “Meditation” for violin solo and orchestra from Thaïs is still extremely popular. Massenet’s style was flexible and ever-changing; his operas did not adhere to one specific genre nor can they be categorized by time period. He sometimes demonstrated influence from Wagner while other times from Gounod, and incorporated elements of French grand opera, exoticism, and verismo (realism) into various works. Overall, however, his works were known for being lyrical, well-orchestrated, and full of emotion. 

Massenet continued composing until his death from abdominal cancer in 1912. Though he is primarily remembered for his operas, he produced a considerable range of works and had a profound influence on his students, making him a major figure in French music history.