This arrangement was modified in its edition and violin indications. A very clean piano part was written. Very good edition of the entire score.
The Méditation is an instrumental entr'acte performed between the scenes of Act II in the opera Thaïs. In the first scene of Act II, Athanaël, a Cenobite monk, confronts Thaïs, a beautiful and hedonistic courtesan and devotée of Venus,
and attempts to persuade her to leave her life of luxury and pleasure
and find salvation through God. It is during a time of reflection
following the encounter that the Méditation is played by the orchestra. In the second scene of Act II, following the Méditation, Thaïs tells Athanaël that she will follow him to the desert.
The piece is in D major and is approximately five minutes long
(although there are a number of interpretations that stretch the piece
to over six minutes). Massenet may also have written the piece with
religious intentions; the tempo marking is
Andante religioso,
signifying his intention that it should be played religiously (which
could mean either strictly in the tempo or literally with
religiously-founded emotion) and at walking tempo, or around 60 BPM. The piece opens with a short introduction, with the solo
violin quickly entering with the motif. After the violin plays the
melody twice, the piece goes into a section marked
animato, gradually becoming more and more passionate (Massenet wrote
poco a poco appassionato). The climax is reached at a place marked
poco piu appassionato (a little more passion) and is then followed by a short cadenza-like
passage from the soloist and returns to the main theme. After the theme
is played twice, the soloist joins the piano while playing
harmonics on the upper register as the piano quietly play
below the solo line.
Advanced Intermediate.Format: Concert, 9 x 12 inches.12 pages.