Jules Massenet (1842-1912) has made several excursions into the field of choral music, but has never been quite able to throw off his theatrical associations. His oratorios are _Ève_ (1875), _La Vierge_ (‘The Holy Virgin’), a sacred legend in four scenes (1880), and _La terre promise_ (‘The Promised Land,’ 1900). In addition is a four-act sacred drama, _Marie Madeleine_ (1873), which is utterly theatrical. _Ève_, a mystery which Massenet wrote in 1875, though not deeply conceived, is full of beautiful color. It is in three parts, the first being ‘The Birth of Woman.’ At the beginning of the part the composer has written in the score: ‘Serene Nature round Man in his sleep. A pure light is spread over Creation, and from the new-born Earth light vapors illumined by the Sun rise on the horizon. A soft breeze undulates the flowers of the field and the waves of the sea.’ Part second, ‘Eve in Solitude’ (The Temptation), bears this superscription: ‘Starlit sky. A balmy night. In the forest solitude Eve walks in deep thought far from Adam. Trembling and enchanted she listens to the voices of the night which murmur around her.’ In these surroundings she sings an aria of narcotic sweetness, _O nuit, douce nuit_ (‘O night! gentle night’), which discloses how receptive she is to the alluring voices of sweet temptation. The third part is ‘The Fall.’ It is impossible to think of Massenet’s character of Eve with any degree of sympathy, as she is depicted simply as an easily tempted Parisienne, with all the characteristics of a frail and sentimental woman. According to the text, she plucks from the tree, not the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, but of love, which is here styled ‘the forbidden fruit.’ The eating of the fruit brings on a rapturous love-duet (_con passione_) in true theatrical style, and the happy pair are banished from Eden--for loving! _Marie Madeleine_, a work which Massenet calls a sacred drama, was written in 1873 and performed at the Odéon Théâtre, Paris, the same year. It consists of three acts, (1) Magdalen at the Fountain, (2) Jesus before Mary Magdalene, (3) Golgotha, including the scenes, ‘Magdalen at the Cross,’ ‘At the Tomb of Jesus,’ and the ‘Resurrection.’ The persons represented are Mary Magdalene, Martha, Jesus and Judas, together with choruses of disciples, Pharisees, scribes, publicans, soldiers, servants, holy women and people. One who is in sympathy with the inspiring Bible narrative, so beautifully treated in dramatic literature, finds it difficult to become reconciled to the extraneous, irrelevant material brought into the text and elaborated in the music--for example, the introduction of Judas as a lover of the Magdalen and a chorus of women who taunt her. The music abounds in dramatic, Oriental coloring and rich melody. The two tableaux in the third act are very realistic, the first presenting the ‘Crucifixion,’ and the second, the ‘Ascension.’