MANON
Opera in five acts by Jules Massenet
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, after the Abbé Antoine-François Prévost's "L'Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut"
First performed on 19 January 1884 in Paris
CAST (in order of appearance)
Guillot de Morfontaine, Minister of Finance, an old roué
- Michel Sénéchal
Monsieur De Brétigny, a nobleman - Franck Ferrari
Pousette, an actress- Jaël Azzaretti
Javotte, an actress - Isabelle Cals
Rosette, an actress - Delphine Haidan
L'Hôtelier - Christophe Fel
Lescaut, of the Royal Guard, Manon's cousin- Jean-Luc Chaignaud
Two Guardsmen - Josep Miquel Ribot
Manon Lescaut - Renée Fleming
Le Chevalier des Grieux - Marcelo Alvarez
Le Comte des Grieux, his father- Alain Vernhes
Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris
conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos
Directed by François Roussillon
Recorded in June 2001 at the Opéra National de Paris / Opéra Bastille
Sung in French, with English subtitles
SYNOPSIS
Amiens, Paris, environs of Le Havre - 1721
ACT ONE
In the courtyard of a large inn at Amiens, which also serves as a stop for the mail coach, the wealthy gentlemen de Brétigny and Guillot de Morfontaine are having lunch with their lady-friends. Lescaut, a Royal Guards Officer enters with a guardsman - he is expecting his cousin Manon, whom he intends to take to a convent where she is to be educated. The mail coach from Arras arrives. Manon alights and is greeted by Lescaut. He and the other gentlemen find her charming and pay her court. While the gentlemen return to their lunch and Lescaut tries his luck at gambling, the young Chevalier des Grieux appears. When he sees the beautiful young woman he is immediately enchanted, and Manon, too, cannot resist his advances. They flee to Paris in the coach of the wealthy Guillot.
ACT TWO
The lovers live in poor conditions in a small room in the Rue Vivienne in Paris but are (still) happy. Des Grieux reads out a letter to Manon which he has written to his father and in which he asks his permission to marry his beloved. Lescaut and de Brétigny, who is dressed up as a guardsman, appear to take Manon back with them. They suspect that Manon is not averse to putting an end to the poverty-stricken life she is leading. Moreover, de Brétigny tells Manon that her lover's father opposes the marriage and intends to remove his son by force. When des Grieux returns from posting the letter to his father, his father's representatives overpower him. Manon leaves with de Brétigny.
ACT THREE
Scene 1
Manon is fêted at a public festival on the Paris Promenade Cours la Reine. Guillot and de Brétigny talk about Manon and learn from the Comte des Grieux, who joins them, that his son is going to be a priest and will be accepted at saint Sulpice that very day. Manon has overheard the conversation and runs off because she cannot forget her former lover.
Scene 2
The future Abbé des Grieux makes a great impression on the distinguished, devout ladies with his first sermon in St. Sulpice. After the service his father tries in vain to persuade him to give up the idea of becoming a priest. Finally he agrees to his son's plans and informs him that he will transfer to him the inheritance of thirty thousand Livres which he received from his mother. Shortly after the Comte has left, Manon appears and bewitches the prospective Abbé. At first des Grieux reacts coolly, but finally succumbs to Manon's charms.
ACT FOUR
Together with the extravagant Manon, des Grieux has spent his inheritance, and they now try their luck in the gambling den of the Transylvanian hotel. There they meet Lescaut and Guillot again. When des Grieux succeeds in winning large sums of money from Guillot, he is being accused of cheating and is arrested together with Manon.
ACT FIVE
When his father intercedes, des Grieux is released. Manon, however, is to be deported and taken to a penal colony. Through bribery des Grieux and Lescaut succeed in freeing Manon. However, her health has suffered during her imprisonment. She dies in the arms of her heartbroken lover in a street in le Havre.
