![]() 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. With an earlier start time and a long second interval for dinner and drinks, Il trittico promises an opera event like no other and a rare chance to hear all three operas in one night as Puccini intended.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. Music Director Stuart Stratford conducts a world-class ensemble cast that features Roland Wood ( Falstaff 2021 and Tosca 2019), Jamie MacDougall ( A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2022 and Candide 2022) alongside Sunyoung Seo, Elgan Llŷr Thomas ( A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2022), Francesca Chiejina, and internationally acclaimed Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill ( Bluebeard’s Castle 2017). Puccini’s scores, including the favourite ‘O mio babbino caro’ in Gianni Schicchi, each boast their own vivid sound world yet all three operas fit together into a truly satisfying whole. fills, moment-by-moment, with fabulous colour and imaginative panache.' Il tabarro (The Cloak) sees a wife trapped in a marriage she yearns to escape, Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) an outsider forced into a life for which she has no vocation, and Gianni Schicchi a dysfunctional family caught in the snare of a shameless conman… World-renowned director Sir David McVicar returns to Scottish Opera with Puccini’s epic triptych – a first both for him and the Company.Ī trio of one-act operas of love and loss, Il trittico runs the gamut from high drama and heartbreaking tragedy to devilish black comedy and farce.
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