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In 1891, the elusive Jules Massenet once again dumbfounded the critics. After the success of Manon (1884), he had been expected to return to the subtleties of the Opéra-comique genre, but instead he revived the Romantic grand opera, as exemplified by his Herodiade and Le Roi de Lahore. With it's exotic setting (an imaginary Persia), supernatural elements, and love sublimated by religion, Le Mage is a composite and varied work, but above all one that represents the apotheosis of French lyricism at the time of the quarrels over the works of Wagner.