tle of
'Salome,' the names of some of the characters were altered and the scene
of the story was transferred to Ethiopia, in order to satisfy the
conscientious scruples of the Lord Chamberlain. Thus according to the
newest version of Massenet's opera 'Jean' is a mysterious
prophet--presumably a species of Mahdi--who makes his appearance at the
court of Moriame, King of Ethiopia. He denounces the sins of Queen
Hesatoade in no measured terms, but the latter cannot induce her husband
to avenge her wrongs, since Moriame dare not venture for political
reasons to proceed to extreme measures against so popular a character as
Jean. Jean has an ardent disciple in Salome, a young lady whose position
in Ethiopian society is not very clearly defined by the librettist,
though in the end she turns out to be Hesatoade's long-lost daughter.
Jean's regard for Salome is purely Platonic, but Moriame loves her
passionately, and when he finds out that Jean is his rival he promptly
orders him to prison where he is put to death after a passionate scene
with Salome, who kills herself in despair. Massenet has taken full
advantage of the passionate and voluptuous scenes of the libretto, which
lend themselves well to his peculiar style. In certain scenes his
treatment of guiding themes reaches an almost symphonic level, and the
opera is throughout a singularly favourable specimen of his earlier
manner. He has recently revised the score, and added a scene between the
Queen and a Chaldean soothsayer, which is one of the most powerful in
the opera.

'Manon,' which was first performed in 1884, shows perhaps no advance in
the matter of form upon 'Herodiade,' but the subject of the opera is so
admirably suited to Massenet's tender and delicate talent that it
remains one of his most completely successful works. The Abbe Prevost's
famous romance had already been treated operatically by Auber, but his
'Manon Lescaut' was never really a success, and had been laid upon the
shelf many years before Massenet took the story in hand.

The action of Massenet's opera begins in the courtyard of an inn at
Amiens, where the Chevalier des Grieux happens to fall in with Manon
Lescaut, who is being sent to a convent under the charge of her brother,
a bibulous guardsman. Manon does not at all like the prospect of convent
life, and eagerly agrees to Des Grieux's proposal to elope with him to
Paris. The next act shows them in an apartment in Paris. Des Grieux has
tried i