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The OPERA article of THE WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA of 1964 had a list of the 50 most popular operas (not very comprehensive; except for Mozart and Puccini, every opera in that list was from the 19th century). One of those operas was THE JUGGLER OF OUR LADY; its plot intrigued me, and for more than forty years I have been on the lookout for a performance of it. Apparently it is no longer one of the 50 most popular operas, because in more than forty years I have not heard even one note of it. Has anybody here heard this very obscure rarity? Would you recommend it?

This version of Massenet's opera ( a "Miracle en 3 actes") is propably the most recent one.

http://www.jules-massenet.com/a_jong.htm

Peter Maxwell Davies based his (little 1978) opera on the same Medieval legend.

I don't know this work however - apparently Massenet thought very well of it himself.
I'm sure there's a Massenet specialist out there!

Time has not been kind to Massenet, and I expect that is not quite fair.

dulcinea wrote:The OPERA article of THE WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA of 1964 had a list of the 50 most popular operas (not very comprehensive; except for Mozart and Puccini, every opera in that list was from the 19th century). One of those operas was THE JUGGLER OF OUR LADY; its plot intrigued me, and for more than forty years I have been on the lookout for a performance of it. Apparently it is no longer one of the 50 most popular operas, because in more than forty years I have not heard even one note of it. Has anybody here heard this very obscure rarity? Would you recommend it?

If Massenet scribbled his grocery list on a gum wrapper, I'd recommend it. The man's melodic gifts and his insight into the psychology of characters was flawless.

PJME wrote:I'm sure there's a Massenet specialist out there!

I would be willing to stand my creds up against anyone's here. I used to belong to the Massenet Society (English division).

According to Wikipedia, this opera was popular only as long as Mary Garden sang the title role, and when that was no longer the case, it vanished from the stage. Therefore, the author of that WBE list, who put THE JUGGLER on the same level of popularity as CARMEN, LA BOHEME and LA TRAVIATA, was in fact indulging in a bit of deceitful puffery. Who was he kidding???

Mary Garden, "a relentless self-publicist," (Wikipedia). She lived a long life. Anybody willing to offer "insider" info?

dulcinea wrote:According to Wikipedia, this opera was popular only as long as Mary Garden sang the title role, and when that was no longer the case, it vanished from the stage. Therefore, the author of that WBE list, who put THE JUGGLER on the same level of popularity as CARMEN, LA BOHEME and LA TRAVIATA, was in fact indulging in a bit of deceitful puffery. Who was he kidding???

Well, it could be. Would you care to guess which Mozart opera was the most popular until c. 1840?

La clemanza di Tito (Metastasio), written for the coronation of Leopold II, King of Bohemia, 1791. Ooops, the question was intended for somebody else.