Thaïs: “Meditation”

Composer: MASSENET, Jules
  • Massenet composed Thaïs in 1894 as a vehicle for the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, who had triumphed in the title role of Massenent’s Manon.1
  • Story: Based on a novel by Anatole France, set in Coptic Egypt, Thaïs is the story of a courtesan who is converted and becomes a saint, only for the monk who converted her to be consumed by passion and reject his own vows.2
  • This movement is an entr’acte between Acts 2 and 3 in Thaïs. It represents the title character’s soul-searching decision to pursue a spiritual life.3

Sources

  1. Annegret Fauser, Patrick Gillis, and Hugh Macdonald, “Massenet, Jules,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 14, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051469. 
  2. Rodney Milnes, “Thaïs,” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed November 14, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000006414. 
  3. Ibid.

Cut IDs

10874, 15150, 18807, 21969, 22647, 40497