Le portrait de Manon

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Opera dates
Title: The portrait of Manon
Original title: Le portrait de Manon
Shape: Opéra-comique in one act
Original language: French
Music: Jules Massenet
Libretto : Georges Boyer
Premiere: May 8, 1894
Place of premiere: Opéra-Comique , Paris
people

Le portrait de Manon (German: Das Bildnis der Manon ) is an opera-comique in one act by Jules Massenet based on a libretto by Georges Boyer . The premiere took place on May 8, 1894 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. The one-act play refers to Massenet's 1884 opera Manon .

action

Chevalier Des Grieux serves as the link to the opera Manon . After the death of his lover Manon, he withdrew and only cares for his ward Jean, who is slowly growing into a man. Embittered by his own experiences, Chevalier Des Grieux tries to keep him away from love. But Jean falls in love with Aurore, the destitute ward of his friend Tiberge. This looks very similar to Des Grieux's lover. Tiberge tries to convince his friend to allow young love.

Aurore and Jean try to hide their love, but when they try to kiss jeans, the portrait of Manon falls down and the two are amazed at the resemblance. An argument ensues: Aurore is called away from Tiberge and Des Grieux tries to reprimand Jean. But Aurore comes back in the same clothes that Manon Des Grieux had met in Amiens. It turns out that Aurore is the daughter of Lescaut, Manon's brother, and therefore Manon's niece. Des Grieux now agrees to a wedding.

Performance history

Le portrait de Manon premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on May 8, 1894. Further performances at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in November 1894 and at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples in December 1894 followed. The work had its US premiere at the Opera House in New Orleans in 1895. After performances at the Théâtre-Lyrique in September 1922, the opera fell into oblivion and was only performed again in 1985 at the Teatro La Fenice. Since then there have been productions of the opera at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the Glimmerglass Opera, the Teatro Liceu and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

In 2014, Kultur.theater.musik produced the German-language premiere. The portrait of Manon (translation and direction Ulla Pilz ) was performed as part of the Summer Opera Festival in the Amthof in Feldkirchen in Carinthia and in various theaters in Lower Austria, with the aim of bringing music theater to rural areas. The musical direction of this production was in the hands of Nana Masutani , the soprano Iza Kopec played Aurore, Armin Gramer was the first countertenor to take on the trouser role of Jean, the tenor Martin Mairinger sang the Tiberge and the baritone Johannes Hanel sang Des Grieux. In January 2019, a production in French with students specializing in singing / music theater in a production by Jörg Behr followed in the black box of the “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” University of Music and Theater in Leipzig .

Characteristic

"This is not just a continuation of the opera Manon in a more intimate setting, Massenet also plays with musical and dramaturgical reminiscences of his famous opera, and this creates a very special mixture of drama, lightness and wit."

- press kit

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anne Massenet: Jules Massenet en toutes lettres. Éditions de Fallois, Paris 2001, ISBN 978-2-8770-6422-4 .
  2. ↑ D. Irvine: Massenet: a chronicle of his life and times. Amadeus Press, Portland 1997, ISBN 0-931-34063-2 .
  3. ^ "Le portrait de Manon". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
  4. ↑ The Portrait of Manon by Jules Massenet. Kultur-forum-amthof.at, accessed on August 28, 2014 .
  5. ↑ 2. Studio production “Le portrait de Manon” in the university. In: Leipziger Internet Zeitung, January 23, 2019.
  6. ↑ press kit. (No longer available online.) Operburggars.at, archived from the original on September 3, 2014 ; accessed on August 28, 2014 .