Puccini – Manon Lescaut Intermezzo

Introduction

Inspired by the novel by Antoine François Prévost “History of the Chevalier Des Grieux and Manon Lescaut” (1731), the opera was composed between the summer of 1889 and October 1892. To lengthen the time of composition was above all the difficult gestation of a libretto that passed into the hands of many writers – in particular Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva, Giuseppe Giacosa, and Luigi Illica. Ruggero Leoncavallo (the very same composer with whom Puccini would have a querelle a few years later about his next opera, La Bohème).

This whirlwind of librettists shows, in the final analysis, how the only true “author” of Manon Lescaut was Puccini, who among other things changed the initial dramaturgical plan by eliminating one act completely. Puccini’s sense of theater was one of the things that drove his librettists crazy. But it was also key to the success of his operas.

Des Grieux’s costume for Act II of Manon Lescaut by Adolf Hohenstein for the world premiere performance, Teatro Regio di Torino, 1 February 1893,

Puccini took some musical elements in Manon Lescaut from earlier works he had written. For example, the madrigal Sulla vetta tu del monte from act 2 echoes the Agnus Dei from his 1880 Messa a quattro voci. Other elements of Manon Lescaut come from his compositions for strings: the quartet Crisantemi, written for the death of Amedeo of Savoy in January 1890, became an integral part of the last act; and the love theme comes from the aria Mentia l’avviso of 1883.

The famous love duet between Manon and Des Grieux forms the basis for the intermezzo opening the third act, which became one of Puccini’s most popular symphonic frescoes.