100 Great Operas and Their Stories: Act-By-Act Synopses by Henry W. Simon

Author:Henry W. Simon [Simon, Henry W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Music, Genres & Styles, Opera
ISBN: 0385054483
Google: KEfSAOggWXwC
Amazon: B004AM5QX0
Publisher: Anchor
Published: 2010-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

MANON

Opera in five acts by Jules Massenet with libretto

in French by Henri Meilhac and Philippe

Gille, based on Antoine François Prévost’s novel

Les aventures du Chevalier des Grieux

et de Manon Lescaut

MANON LESCAUT Soprano

LESCAUT, of the Royal Guard, her cousin Baritone

COUNT DES GRIEUX Bass

CHEVALIER DES GRIEUX, his son Tenor

GUILLOT DE MORFONTAINE, an old roué Tenor

DE BRÉTIGNY, a nobleman Baritone

actresses Sopranos

POUSETTE

JAVOTTE

ROSETTE

Time: 18th century

Places: Amiens, Paris, and Le Havre

First performance at Paris, January 19, 1884

The Abbé Antoine François Prévost’s semi-autobiographical novel Les aventures du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut supplied the inspiration for stage works by a number of distinguished composers. Before Massenet, Auber had made an opera of it and Halévy a ballet. And after the present work, Puccini wrote an opera on the subject described in this book, and still later Massenet himself came back to the same theme in Le portrait de Manon—a one-act sequel that has never been very popular.

There is no question, however, about the popularity of Manon (a title which Massenet claimed he had copyrighted: the other operas are called Manon Lescaut). After Faust and Carmen it is the most popular French opera there is, both in and outside of France. It is also Massenet’s most durable work, and one for which he felt a particular affection. Perhaps one reason is the lively personal attraction he seemed to feel for the character of the attractive and unfortunate heroine.

In his memoirs the composer tells two stories that seem to be to the point. The first has to do with the time when he was composing the score. On a walk, one day, he saw a florist’s assistant with sparkling eyes who, he imagined, was yearning for rich pleasures beyond her station. “There she is,” he said to himself. “That is Manon.” And he goes on to tell how he kept the image of that girl in his mind during the entire composition of the score, even though he had never seen her before and never saw her again.

The other story has to do with casting the production. His first thought was of Mme. Miolan-Carvalho, the wife of his impresario and a fine artist. (She was the original Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust.) However in 1884 she was fifty-six, too old to undertake the role of a fifteen-year-old girl. The gallant Massenet, intent on getting her into the picture somehow, dedicated the score to her.

Next he thought of a young soprano named Vaillant, to whom he showed parts of the score. Unfortunately, when the time came, she was appearing in an operetta, and her manager would not release her. But even while he was talking to the manager in the lobby of the theater, a familiar figure kept passing by, newly arrayed in a gorgeous hat (a gray one, with lots of roses on it).

“Heilbronn!” I cried (so go the memoirs).

“Herself.”

“You still sing?” I asked her.

“No, I am rich; and yet, shall I admit it to you? I miss the theatre. It haunts me. Ah, if I found a good part—!”

“I have one: Manon.

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