City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Rowden, C. (2001). Massenet, Marianne and Mary : Republican morality and Catholic tradition at the opera. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/7611/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] Massenet, Marianne and Mary: Republican Morality and Catholic Tradition at the Opera Clair Rowden Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Music, City University, November 2001. Contents List Examples 3 of Musical ................................ Acknowledgements 4 ..................................... Abstract 5 ...................................... Introduction 6 ...................................... One: Marianne Mary 21 Chapter and ........................ The Cult Republican Motherhood 25 of ..................... Religion versus Philosophy and the Place of Religion in Society 30 The Clergy Confession 39 and ............................. The Feminisation Catholicism 42 of .................. .... Proudhon, Michelet, Legouve 48 ........................... Marriage Family 56 and the ............................... Separation Divorce 62 Adultery and Prostitution, and ........... Education Employment 66 and .............................. Civic Duties 74 Political Rights and ......................... Suffrage Depopulation 76 Emancipation,Female and ........... Fin de Siecle 82 ......................................... In Conclusion 85 ........................................ Chapter Two: Le Pretre, la femme la famille 87 et ............... The Genesis Herodiade 90 of .............................. History Biblical Opera 92 A Brief of ........................ Critical Reception 98 ..................................... Religion, Exoticism Eroticism 105 and ........................ Jean Baptiste Salome 113 and ............................... Salome, Herodiade Motherhood 126 and ...................... Herodiade 131 ........................................... JeanBaptiste (and Phanuel) 137 ............................. In Conclusion 150 ........................................ Chapter Three: Dreams of Decadence, or the Death of Positivism 153 Artistic Decadence Social Degeneration 154 and ................ Herode Figure Decadence 162 as of .......................... Athanael's Visions 169 .................................... Athanael's Temptation Ballet 176 ............................. GeneralReception Thais 180 Decadenceand the of .............. The Libretto 189 ......................................... In Conclusion 195 ........................................ Chapter Four: La Pornocratie 198 ............................ Femme Fatale Ecstatic Mystic 201 and ....................... Thals's Religious Culture, Mystical Sensuality, Hysteria 206 and ... Symphonic Interludes, Meditation religieuse and Musical Extase 215 Athanael ............................................. 231 In Conclusion 243 ........................................ Conclusion 248 ............................................ Sources 258 ............................................ Press & Periodical Sources 266 .............................. Operatic Sources 274 ...................................... Bibliography 276 Appendix1 .......................................... 292 ............................................ Appendix 2 293 ............................................ Appendix 3 295 ............................................ Appendix 4 299 ............................................ Appendix 5 309 ............................................ 2 List of Musical Examples Chapter Two Example la Herodiade. Opera trois 108 en actes et cinq tableaux. ..... Vocal score. Paris: Hartmann, n. d. [1881], 193. Example lb Herodiade. Opera 109 en quatre actes et sept tableaux. .... Vocal score. Paris: Heugel, 1909,82. Example 2a Herodiade. Vocal d., 196. 110 score,n. .................. Example 2b Herodiade. Vocal 1909,85. 111 score, .................. Example 3 Herodiade. Vocal 1909,63. 116 score, .................. Example 4 Herodiade. Vocal 1909,70-1. 122 score, ................ Example 5 Herodiade. Vocal 1909,189. 129 score, ................. Example Vocal 1909,135-6. 135 6 Herodiade. score, ............... Example Herodiade. Vocal 1909,137. 136 7 score, ................. Example Vocal 1909,162-4. 141-2 8 Herodiade. score, ............... Example 9 Herodiade. Vocal 1909,166. 143 score, ................. Example 10 Herodiade. Vocal 1909,242-3. 146 score, ............... Example 11 Herodiade. Vocal 1909,255. 148 score, ................. Chapter Four Example Ia Thais. Comedie lyrique en trois actes et sept tableaux. 211 Vocal score. Paris: Heugel, 1922,111. Example Thais. Vocal 1922,245. 213 lb score, ..................... 2 Thais. Vocal 1922,113. Example score, ...................... 221 Example 3 L'Avant-SceneOpera. MassenetThai's, 109, May 1988,49. 222 Example Thais. Vocal 1922,263. 228 4 score, ..................... Example 5 Thais. Vocal 1922,267-8. 229 score, ................... Example 6 Thais. Vocal 1922,10-11. 233 score, ................... Example Vocal 1922,94. 236 7 Thais. score, ...................... Example 8 Thais. Vocal 1922,99-100. 237, score, ................... Example 9 Thais. Vocal 1922,107. 240 score, ..................... Example 10 Thais. Vocal 1922,217. 243 score, ..................... 3 Acknowledgements The funding for the last two years of this thesis has been provided by the British Academy and the Fondation internationale Nadia et Lili Boulanger whose support I acknowledge with gratitude. My heartfelt thanks go to Annegret Fauser who, over the last five years, has watched me and my work mature, and never ceased to encourage and stimulate my intellectual curiosity and progress. Her support as tutor and friend has been invaluable and I cannot thank her enough. Sincere thanks are also due to Steven Huebner who has constructively criticised my work for the past two years, and to Joel-Marie Fauquet who has followed my progress from the time I was a Masters student. He is of extremely `bon conseil', and has not hesitated to share with me his vast knowledge of nineteenth-century French artistic history. I would like to thank Jeanne and Jacques Barlier for their constant affability in answering all my queries and questions on French cultural life, past and present. To my parents, Michael and Cynthia Rowden, I am indebted not only for financial support in the early years, but also for their unswerving and absolute faith in me and my capabilities. It is hard to find the words to express the gratitude I feel to my husband, Pierre-Maurice Barlier who continually encourages me to fulfil my potential and who willingly and tirelessly provides me with the intellectual, material and moral support. to be able to do so. Merci du fond de mon caeur. Declaration. I hereby grant powers of discretion to the City University Librarian to allow this thesis to be copied in whole or in part without further reference to the author. This permission covers only single copies made for study purposes, subject to normal conditions of acknowledgement. 4 Abstract The social and political practice of the French Third Republic resonated with a variety of contrasting ideologies which were reflected in cultural products and their reception, including opera. The operas of Jules Massenet, the most successful Parisian opera composer of his time, provide a good example of this kind of cultural mediation. A close examination of Massenet's operas will thus allow a re-evaluation of the complex interaction between art and society in musical culture at the end of the nineteenth century in France. Representative case-studies have been chosen, and the works are read in the contemporary Parisian context of moral and political debate. I examine the operas with respect to the choice of subject matter, the libretto and its genesis (especially transformations made in the process of creating a libretto), the music (both in its relation to the specific drama and musical convention of the time), the staging and its messages, and the critical reception in the press. The main chapters are dedicated to the following issues: 1. Mary or Marianne? The social, moral and cultural context, particularly regarding women, is explored via a close reading of sources from the second half of the nineteenth century. 2. Le Pretre, la Femme et la Familie. Anticlericalism and Republicanism as reflected in Massenet's opera Herodiade and its reception history are addressed. Also discussed is the icon of the Republican mother, sexual desire and the question of divorce (hotly debated at the time of the opera's premiere). 3. Dreams of Decadence,or the Death of Positivism.