Prototipos femeninos decimonónicos en la obra de Jules Massenet

Abstract

The most frequently mentioned relation between Jules Massenet and a female emblematic figure remits to his opera Manon, with a script by H. Meilhac y Ph. Gille, based on Prévost’s novel Manon Lescaut. Yet the lyric repertoire of this composer provides a wide gallery of feminine prototypes that transcend the operas to represent central figures of the imaginary of the time. In these pages I analyze the literary sources and their transformations for opera scripts of two characters in particular: Thais, the heroine of the homonymous opera, and Dulcinée, the female protagonist of Don Quichotte.