Puccini opera8/9/2023 He offers to help her, and when Lescaut calls her he begs her to meet him later she reluctantly agrees. She sits, as des Grieux, who has been fixated on her, approaches her and declares his feelings for her (des Grieux, Manon,: Cortese damigella – Gentle lady), only to learn she is destined for a convent at the will of her father. The other passengers enter the Inn, while Lescaut signals Manon to wait for him. Des Grieux is also smitten ( Dio, quanto è bella! – Dear God, such beauty!). The crowd comments (Chorus, Edmondo, Lescaut, des Grieux, Geronte: Discendono, vediam! – Look, they are getting down!) Edmondo and the students admire Manon ( Chi non darebbe a quella donnina bella? – Who would not give to that beautiful young woman?). They joke with him and provoke him to feign flirtation with the girls (des Grieux: Tra voi, belle, brune e bionde – Among you beauties, dark and fair) (Edmondo, chorus: Ma, bravo!).Ī postillion horn is heard and the carriage from Arras pulls up at the Inn, as the crowd peers in to see who the passengers are (Chorus: Giunge il cocchio d'Arras! – Here comes the Arras coach!) Lescaut (Manon's brother), then an elderly treasurer-general, Geronte di Ravoir, descend from the coach, Geronte helping Manon, then the remainder of the passengers. ![]() io non conosco! – Love?, Love?.I know nothing of that). Des Grieux enters, and they greet him, but he is melancholic and does not join the others, singing cynically of love (des Grieux, Edmondo, chorus: L'amor?, L'amor?. Some are seated at the tables outside the Inn, drinking and gambling.Įdmondo sings a song of youthful pleasure (Edmondo, chorus of students, girls and townspeople: Ave, sera gentile – Hail gentle evening). It is evening, townspeople, soldiers and a crowd of male students and girls stroll through the avenue and square while others gather in groups. Off the square is an Avenue on one side and an Inn on the other, with a balcony. Problems playing this file? See media help. The opera was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 18 January 1907 in the presence of the composer with Lina Cavalieri in the title role, Enrico Caruso as des Grieux, Antonio Scotti as Lescaut, and Arturo Vigna conducting. The first performance of Manon Lescaut took place in the Teatro Regio in Turin on 1 February 1893 it was Puccini's third opera and his first great success. I shall feel it as an Italian, with a desperate passion." Why shouldn't there be two operas about Manon? A woman like Manon can have more than one lover." He added, "Massenet feels it as a Frenchman, with powder and minuets. "Manon is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the hearts of the public. While Puccini and Ricordi may not have known it, the French composer Daniel Auber had also already written an opera on the same subject with the title Manon Lescaut, in 1856.ĭespite all the warnings, Puccini proceeded. Puccini's publisher, Ricordi, had been against any project based on Prévost's story because Jules Massenet had already made it into a successful opera, Manon, in 1884. ![]() ![]() The love theme comes from the aria Mentia l'avviso (1883). Other elements of Manon Lescaut come from his compositions for strings: the quartet Crisantemi (January 1890), three Menuets (probably 1884) and a Scherzo (1883?). For example, the madrigal Sulla vetta tu del monte from act 2 echoes the Agnus Dei from his 1880 Messa a quattro voci. Puccini took some musical elements in Manon Lescaut from earlier works he had written. However, it was Illica and Giacosa who completed the libretto and went on to contribute the libretti to Puccini's next three – and most successful – works, La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. ![]() So confused was the authorship of the libretto that no one was credited on the title page of the original score. The publisher, Giulio Ricordi, and the composer himself also contributed to the libretto. The libretto is in Italian, and was cobbled together by five librettists whom Puccini employed: Ruggero Leoncavallo, Marco Praga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Domenico Oliva and Luigi Illica.
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