Front matter

MY RECOLLECTIONS

The Master, Jules Massenet

MY RECOLLECTIONS

BY JULES MASSENET (1842-1912)

THE AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION DONE AT THE MASTER'S EXPRESS DESIRE BY HIS FRIEND H. VILLIERS BARNETT Authorized Translator of H. S. H. the Prince of Monaco's Autobiography: La Carrière d'un Navigateur

BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1919, By SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY (INCORPORATED)

TO LUCY ARBELL CONSUMMATE DRAMATIC ARTIST AND GREATEST CONTRALTO SINGER OF OUR TIME IN AFFECTIONATE ADMIRATION I DEDICATE THIS ENGLISH VERSION OF HER BELOVED MASTER'S BOOK

"Chère amie, gardez aussi sa réligion, et qu'elle vous conduise, ferme et courageuse, au milieu des cahots de la vie, jusq'au paradis des arts."

FOREWORD

I have been often asked whether I put together the recollections of my life from notes jotted down from day to day. To tell the truth I did, and this is how I began the habit of doing so regularly.

My mother—a model wife and mother, who taught me the difference between right and wrong—said to me on my tenth birthday:

"Here is a diary." (It was one of those long-shaped diaries which one found in those days at the little Bon Marché, not the immense enterprise we know now.) "And," she added, "every night before you go to bed, you must write down on the pages of this memento what you have seen, said, or done during the day. If you have said or done anything which you realize is wrong, you must confess it in writing in these pages. Perhaps it will make you hesitate to do wrong during the day."

How characteristic of an unusual woman, a woman of upright mind and honest heart this idea was! By placing the matter of conscience among the first of her son's duties, she made Conscience the very basis of her methods of teaching.

Once when I was alone, in search of some distraction I amused myself by foraging in the cupboards where I found some squares of chocolate. I broke off a square and munched it. I have said somewhere that I am greedy. I don't deny it. Here's another proof.

When evening came and I had to write the account of my day, I admit that I hesitated a moment about mentioning that delicious square of chocolate. But my conscience put to the test in this way conquered, and I bravely recorded my dereliction in the diary.

The thought that my mother would read about my misdeed made me rather shamefaced. She came in at that very moment and saw my confusion; but directly she knew the cause she clasped me in her arms and said:

"You have acted like an honest man and I forgive you. All the same that is no reason why you should ever again eat chocolate on the sly!"

Later on, when I munched other and better chocolate, I always obtained permission.

Thus it came about that from day to day I have always made notes of my recollections be they good or bad, gay or sad, happy or not, and kept them so that I might have them constantly in mind.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

FOREWORDxii

IMy Admission to the Conservatoire1

IIYouthful Years11

IIIThe Grand Prix de Rome20

IVThe Villa Medici29

VThe Villa Medici (CONTINUED)37

VIThe Villa Medici (CONTINUED)43

VIIMy Return To Paris53

VIII My Debut at the Theater63

IXThe Days After the War74

XJoy and Sorrow82

XIMy Debut at the Opéra93

XIIThe Theaters in Italy103

XIIIThe Conservatoire and the Institute114

XIVA First Performance at Brussels123

XVThe Abbé Prevost at the Opéra-Comique136

XVIFive Collaborators148

XVIIA Journey to Germany161

XVIIIA Star173

XIXA New Life186

XXMilan—London—Bayreuth199

XXIA Visit To Verdi—Farewell To Ambroise Thomas208

XXIIWork! Always Work!217

XXIIIIn the Midst of the Middle Ages231

XXIVFROM Chérubin to Thérèse242

XXVSpeaking of 1793254

XXVIFROM Ariane to Don Quichotte267

XXVIIA Soirée278

XXVIIIDear Emotions288

XXIXThoughts After Death302

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Master, Jules MassenetFrontispiece

PAGE

Massenet at Égreville44

One of the last portraits of Massenet68

Mme. Pauline Viardot84

Titta Ruffo, Caruso and Chaliapine110

The Forum from the First Act of Roma (See page 300)154

Posthumia (Roma) (See page 297)170

Lucy Arbell212

Persephone in Ariane244

Queen Amahelly (Bacchus)268

Dulcinée (Don Quichotte)282

Facsimile of Massenet's Reply to an Invitation to Visit America296

MY RECOLLECTIONS