Jules Massenet - Meditation (from the opera Thaïs)

Image de la Wik

There is a new Classical Music group on Gab.  For those that haven't been following along at home, Gab.ai is a Twitter-like platform that is dedicated to free speech - they do not censor posts, although they provide tools for users to filter out content they don't like.  You can find me there as @Borepatch.

But the new Classical Music group is a delight.  There is already a fair amount of content there, including today's selection here.  One of the problems I've had recently with Sunday Classical posts is that after 300 or so it's hard to find new artists that I haven't posted before.  The new Gab group makes it a lot easier - see someone interesting, do a quick blog search and voila - new content!  Thanks, Gabbers!

Jules Massenet was (as are so many composers who have appeared here) a child prodigy.  Like most of the French Romantic era composers who have appeared here, he was trained as a child at the Paris Conservatory (he later became a Professor there).  He went on to become a prolific composer of operas, with over 30 to his name.

I simply love this music, but alas it fell out of fashion in fin de siecle France.  Surprisingly, he music was almost never performed for fifty years.  Fortunately for us, his music has made a comeback.