Explore "Massenet and Women" by Carl Van Vechten on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The name of Jules Massenet, spoken before his tomb, should evoke many memories besides the souvenirs of the delicate melodies he wrote -- memories of beautiful and frail women, a long, exotic list, women whom he melodically created in his operas and women whom he selected to sing his heroines.
Xavier Leroux in his preface to the "Souvenirs," in which Massenet carefully describes his life, calls him the _musicien de la femme_. His music is peculiarly feminine -- "melodically, sentimentally, sensuously feminine," says Philip Hale. "The Eve of Massenet is a Parisian _cocotte_. His Mary Magdalen is a _grande amoureuse_ even after her conversion; a true sister of Thaïs."