Thanh-Tam Le said (about the Meditation from Thais):

>Isn't it only an orchestral interlude between the two scenes of Act II? It
>occurs at a psychological turnpoint where Thais, until then a woman of easy
>virtue, is on her way to turning to religious faith.

Erika Millen confirms:

>The Meditation is an orchestral interlude in the opera.  It falls
>toward the end of Act II, Scene 1, and portrays Thais' thoughts as she
>contemplates conversion.  I believe the theme is also picked up in Act III
>as Thais is dying.

This is incredible; I had begun to suspect that this might be the case
as I was writing the post, --I guess Massenet chose to leave one of the
most pivotal moments in his opera to the orchestra.  Certainly, the
phrases seem to 'speak' (and, to my non-French speaking ears, at least,
to speak in French!).

T-T Le continues:

>Although I am usually open to renditions vastly different from mine, I
>have been appalled more than once by performances of this particular piece,
>even by some renowned violinists [who] regarded it as an encore, ... and
>took it as an excuse for an incredible lack of taste and nobility, and a
>display of cheap seduction."

This is true.  Ignorant performers, not knowing the context of the piece,
do tend to play it as an erotically motivated piece.  Well, at any rate,
where the erotic motivation--if there is one-- is unsubtle, crude, obvious.
And that's so unnecessary; no matter how serenely and "coolly" it is
performed, I believe it has a certain intrinsic warmth that's all it needs.

I have so often wished I could play a violin just so I could play this one!

An interesting thread might be: are there any melodies or passages
that our list members love so much that they have considered taking up
a particular instrument just in order to play those melodies/passages?

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