MASSENET, Jules

Born in Montaud, St Etienne, May 12, 1842
Died in Paris, Aug 13, 1912

• Massenet was the leading French opera composer of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.
• Fun fact: Early in his career Massenet played timpani at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris. In this position he got to know the operas of Gounod, Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven and Weber.
• Massenet won the Prix de Rome in 1863, had his first opera produced at the Opéra-Comique in 1867. In 1877 he won success with his grand opera La roi de Lahore, and was also appointed a professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire¹

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.