Massenet’s music is a happy combination of Wagner’s elaborate system of guiding themes with the sensuous beauty of which he himself possesses the secret.  As regards the plan of ‘Esclarmonde’ his indebtedness to Wagner was so patent, that Parisian critics christened him ’Mlle. Wagner,’ but nevertheless he succeeded in preserving his own individuality distinct from German influence.  No one could mistake ‘Esclarmonde’ for the work of a German; in melodic structure and orchestral colouring it is French to the core.

‘Werther’ was written in 1886, though not actually produced until 1892, when it was given for the first time at Vienna.  The plot of Goethe’s famous novel is a rather slight foundation for a libretto, but the authors did their work neatly and successfully.  In the first act Werther sees Charlotte cutting bread and butter for her little brothers and sisters, and falls in love with her.  In the second, Charlotte, now married to Albert, finding that she cannot forget Werther and his passion, sends him from her side.  He departs in despair, meditating suicide.  In the last act Charlotte is still brooding over the forbidden love, and will not be comforted by the artless prattle of her sister Sophie.  Werther suddenly returns, and after a passionate and tearful scene, extorts from Charlotte the confession that she loves him.  He then borrows Albert’s pistols, and shoots himself in his lodgings, where Charlotte finds him, and he breathes his last sigh in her arms.  Though in tone and sentiment more akin to ‘Manon,’ in form ‘Werther’ resembles ‘Esclarmonde.’  It is constructed upon a basis of guiding themes, which are often employed with consummate skill.  The uniform melancholy of the story makes the music slightly monotonous, and though the score cannot fail to delight musicians, it has hardly colour or variety enough to be generally popular.  ‘Le Portrait de Manon,’ a delicate little sketch in one act, and ‘Thais,’ a clever setting of Anatole France’s beautiful romance, both produced in 1894, will not be likely to add much to Massenet’s reputation.  ‘La Navarraise,’ produced during the same year in London, was apparently an attempt to imitate the melodramatic extravagance of Mascagni.  The action takes place under the walls of Bilbao during the Carlist war.  Anita loves Araquil, a Spanish soldier, but his father will not permit the marriage because of her poverty.  Seeing that a reward is offered for the head of the Carlist general, Anita goes forth like a second Judith, trusting to her charms to win admittance to the hostile camp.  She wins her reward, but Araquil, who is brought in from a battle mortally wounded, knowing the price at which it was won, thrusts her from him, and she sinks a gibbering maniac upon his corpse.  There is little in Massenet’s score but firing of cannons and beating of drums.  The musical interest centres in a charming duet in the opening scene, and a delicious instrumental nocturne.  The action of the piece is breathless and vivid, and