The Meditation from Thaïs by Jules Massenet — it’s a famous and gorgeous violin piece, and you hear it a lot as an encore, but in the context of the opera it takes on a much richer, profound meaning .

Thaïs premiered in 1894, at the height of La Belle Époque, a cultural golden age in France. (it literally means “the beautiful age”) From The World’s Fairs in 1889 and 1900, to cabarets, to the Eiffel Tower, the Belle Époque was largely peaceful and filled with culture and new technology.

However, there were underlying tensions. Among these, the Catholic Church and the French Government repeatedly clashed throughout La Belle Epoque, as the government sought to secularize France. It’s this tension that Massenet explores in Thaïs. This opera is a battle between religion and hedonism, spiritual vs earthly pleasures: think Notre Dame vs the Moulin Rouge.

So let’s dive into the opera — this is the 2008 Metropolitan Opera production. Thaïs, played by Renee Fleming, is a vivacious, hedonistic Egyptian courtesan. She’s visited by Athanaël, a very pious, very celibate monk played by Thomas Hampson. In the lead in to the Meditation, Athanaël has spent the entire scene trying to convert Thaïs and convince her to become a nun, and he gets close! She almost says yes and goes with him, but then…

That laugh that turns into crying is written in the score, so clearly there’s a lot going through Thaïs’s mind. Does she leave with Athanaël and turn to God? Or, does she stick with her life of earthly pleasures? This is the emotional crux of the opera, and it’s hard to put these powerful, deeply conflicting emotions into words, so Massenet gives it to the violin.

This is, in the most literal sense, “heavenly” music.” You have the angelic harp, the placid strings, and the solo violin, it’s very spiritual, religious, music. BUT, when the theme returns, Massenet writes a twist that seems to indicate there’s more going on than we might assume...

The theme returns with a harmonic and textural change, adding in two horns, and a C natural in the cello and bass, indicating that both harmonically and dramatically, we’re going somewhere we didn’t plan on before....

So where do you go when you’ve had a biblical epiphany?

The Egyptian desert!

Thaïs goes with Athanaïl through the desert to the convent, and just as she goes through the doors, he realizes he’s in love with her.

Very sad and deeply in love, Athanaël renounces his monkly vows, is sad about it, and goes to find Thaïs in the convent, who, surprise surprise, is dying. (It is opera after all)

Always with great timing, Athanaël confronts Thaïs, who is at peace with her fate and is frankly pretty excited to go to heaven. As she sees the light, Athanaël desperately tells her to reject God and everything he had believed before.

So in this incredibly dramatic moment of personal and interpersonal crisis, what music does Massenet bring back?

It’s absolutely incredible music and drama, this amazing interplay of religion, love, and lust. Check out a full recording of the opera here, my favorite recording of the Meditation here, and this playlist for all Parlando Breakdowns.