Manon (Massenet)
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| Title: | Manon |
Massenet rehearsing Manon with soprano Sibyl Sanderson |
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| Shape: | Opéra-comique in five acts |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Jules Massenet |
| Libretto : | Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille |
| Literary source: | Abbé Prévost : Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut |
| Premiere: | January 19, 1884 |
| Place of premiere: | Opéra-Comique , Paris |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | France, second half of the 18th century |
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Manon is an opera comique in five acts by Jules Massenet . The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille based on the Abbé Prévost's novel Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (1731) . The world premiere took place on January 19, 1884 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris .
action
first act
The Roué Guillot and von Brétigny come to an inn in Amiens , where the stagecoach to Paris stops, with three young friends. The guests are hungry and thirsty. When the stagecoach arrives, the curious gather, including the soldier Lescaut, who is supposed to pick up his cousin Manon, a young girl from the provinces. She is to be brought to the monastery, but the soldier Lescaut is more interested in playing cards than in supervising his pretty cousin. While she waits for her cousin, Manon not only has to fend off unequivocal offers from rich men like Guillot de Morfontaine and Monsieur de Brétigny, but also gets to know the young Chevalier Des Grieux, who falls in love with her at first sight. With Des Grieux, a decision is quickly made: flee together and start a new life in Paris that will only consist of love and pleasure!
Second act
In their Paris apartment, Des Grieux and Manon read the letter Des Grieux wants to ask his father for permission to marry. However, the two are visited by Lescaut and De Brétigny: Lescaut is outraged about the injured family honor, but is convinced, not least of all, by the letter of Des Grieux's sincere intention to marry Manon. In the meantime, De Brétigny offers her wealth and splendor in return for her love if she only allows her lover to be forcibly taken away from her on the father's orders. With a heavy heart, Manon says goodbye to his life together with Des Grieux and lets the kidnapping happen.
Third act
First picture
A folk festival on the Cours-la-Reine in Paris offers Manon the opportunity to make a glamorous appearance: She is the most beautiful and only lives for the moment. Even Count Des Grieux, who has traveled from the provinces and the father of Manon's former lover, has to admit that he might succumb to her charms. In honor of Manon, the opera's ballet gives a public performance. Manon learns from Count Des Grieux that his son is about to be ordained a priest, but Manon refuses to believe that young Des Grieux could have forgotten it, and goes to the seminary.
Second picture
In the seminary of Saint-Sulpice , the Chevalier Des Grieux is admired for his talent as a preacher. His father tries one last time to persuade his son to marry appropriately, but to no avail. The young Des Grieux sends him away: he wants to dedicate his life to God and so conquer the memory of his beloved. Manon appears, she asks God for help and begs Des Grieux for forgiveness. In the end, the Chevalier can no longer resist her caresses and makes a new relationship with her.
Fourth act
Manon's need for luxury devours large sums of money. In the gaming room of the Hotel Transylvania, Manon forces the Chevalier to gamble in order to get some money back. Des Grieux finally plays against Guillot and actually always wins, which is why Guillot accuses him of cheating and leaves the hall angrily, only to return shortly afterwards not only with the police, but also with Des Grieux's father. The young Des Grieux is pretended to be arrested, while Manon, as his accomplice, is actually arrested to be taken to the women's prison.
Fifth act
Des Grieux, accompanied by Lescauts, waits on the road to Paris for the deported girls, including Manon, to free them. However, the hired people have already let them down, so that attempts at violent rescue appear pointless. Lescaut bribes the sergeant with the last of his money, and Manon, who is terminally ill in prison, is released for a short time. A man remains to guard Manon. The lovers find one more time together. Manon repents of their sins and asks his beloved for forgiveness. She reminds him of their common history, of their happiness and tenderness, and dies in his arms.
music
The opera is laid out in a well-composed musical form with a short prelude. Melodies developed from inconspicuous motifs, rapid changes of mood, which also illustrate the fragility of every feeling within a single number, and a sensitive commentary on emotional processes by the orchestra characterize the music, although Massenet is not (yet) the leitmotif in the manner of Richard Wagner sets in, but nevertheless uses recurring musical twists and turns that the audience identifies with certain characters and situations. The opera is built up from musical scenes, which in turn often contain closed structures. The use of spoken dialogue between the musical numbers, which is typical of the Opéra-comique genre, has been modified in that, instead of pure dialogue, Massenet tries out various possibilities of melodrama, that is, lets a character speak to a music of the orchestra that gives the text expressiveness.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (the second also piccolo ), two oboes (the second also English horn ), two clarinets , two bassoons
- Brass : two cornets à piston , two horns , two trumpets , three trombones
- Timpani , percussion : bass drum , cymbals , snare drum , military drum, bells, whip, triangle , tam-tam , carillon , bells
- harp
- Strings
- Incidental music: clarinet, bassoon, string quintet, organ
Work history
Massenet began studying Manon in 1881 . It was premiered on January 19, 1884 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris with the soprano Marie Heilbron in the title role. The opera gained recognition from the start.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber ( Manon Lescaut , 1856) and Giacomo Puccini ( Manon Lescaut , 1893) used the same model in their operas. Puccini's version temporarily pushed Massenet's opera off the repertoire of opera houses. Hans Werner Henze created another adaptation of the subject with the opera Boulevard Solitude .
Massenet's opera Manon is now one of the most frequently performed works in French music literature.
Web links
- Manon : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Action and libretto from fr at Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently not available
Individual evidence
- ^ Norbert Miller : Manon. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 3: Works. Henze - Massine. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 , pp. 742-749.