# data[].attributes.body
https://www.liberliber.it/mediateca/musica/p/puccini/manon_lescaut/scala/puccini_manon_les_02_l_amor_l_a.mp3

# data[].attributes.body
Manon Lescaut, Intermezzo (Puccini) by MIT Symphony Orchestra is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Free Music Archive: MIT Symphony Orchestra - Manon Lescaut, Intermezzo (Puccini)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
WFMU Music for Video ccCommunity Golden Festival Murmure Intempo... blocSonic Oddio Overplay Vulpiano Record... ccMixter DinuraCreations Mass Dist Ziklibrenbib Commune Oreille West Cortez Rec... Fonogramas Amé... ondecourte.fr More

# data[].attributes.body
nei presi di un'osteria ragazzi, studenti, borghesi, ridono e scherzano sui temi dell'amore e delle giovinezza.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
S as in Symphonic: Puccini's non-operatic works

"God told me to only write for the theater, and so I did" - This statement by Puccini is only partially true: while his success and fame are certainly due to his operatic works, there are some minor and not-so-minor compositions that were not destined to the stage.

Preludio sinfonico

This orchestra prelude was written by Puccini for an end-of-the-year test in 1882 at the conservatory in Milan. While most critics recognized the originality of some melodies, practically all of them labeled it as an immature attempt to this form, borrowing too much from Wagner and Ponchielli.

Filippo Filippi, one of the most influential critics of the time, found it a tad too long, adding to it that the music wasn't really going anywhere (article on " La Perseveranza ", July 17, 1882).

From left to right: Alberto Franchetti, Pietro Mascagni and Giacomo Puccini in 1885 [1]

Another critic on " La Lombardia " writes that "Puccini in this Prelude for orchestra appears a bit unbalanced, restless, a bit too Ponchielli-like [...]; however, it gives evidence of an eminently artistic nature. The last part of the Prelude is very rich and elegant".

The Wagnerian influence is quite evident, drawing from Lohengrin and Tannhäuser: the melodic material is, however, undoubtedly Puccini. Part of this musical material was re-used in Edgar: the main theme in the terzet "Ultima speme, tu sei svanita" (act 2, first version of the opera); the second theme in "Io la mano un dì macchiai" (again, act 2, first version of the opera); another idea was used in the dialogue between Fidelia and her friends "Voi? - Sì, a chieder di te passammo" (act 4).

A few measures, cut from the prelude in the final versions, were used in Le Villi.

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in the center of Milan, in a picture taken by Giacomo Brogi around 1880 when Puccini was studying at the conservatory

Capriccio sinfonico

While the Preludio sinfonico was received in a fairly cold way, the Capriccio sinfonico, written the following year, was a good success: presented as his graduation composition and conducted by the music director of La Scala Franco Faccio, it already shows quite a bit of the more mature Puccini. "I felt inspired and composed it at home, in the streets, in class...I wrote on odd sheets, bits of papers, and the margins of newspapers" Puccini told journalist Arnaldo Fraccaroli (who wrote 4 volumes on the composer's life). The Capriccio, performed three times at the conservatory, gained immediate fame and was performed in important theaters like La Scala until Puccini himself completely withdrew it, removing the autograph score from the conservatory and refusing to publish it.

The capriccio is symphonic only in its title and in the fact that it has no singers: it, however, shows plenty of operatic ideas in its music and his fingerprints in the orchestration are uncanny. Most likely, Puccini recognized he could reuse the music for an opera and didn't want the audience to hold this against him.

And that he did: part of it in Edgar, but most importantly in the opening of act 1 and 4 of La bohème. The Capriccio sinfonico was published only in 1978 and remains today one of the most famous compositions of Puccini outside of his operatic works.

Giacomo Puccini with his wife Elvira Bonturi, 1910

Crisantemi

The elegy I Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) was written in a single night in 1890 as a response to the death of his friend Amedeo, Duke of Savoy. Scored for a string quartet, it found its way in the performance halls throughout the twentieth century in an arrangement for string orchestra.

The Chrysanthemums are the flowers typically associated with death: the melancholic character of this piece was suitable enough for Puccini to be reused in the last act of Manon Lescaut.

Requiem

Not a tradition Requiem as we are used to, like Mozart's or Verdi's: this composition was written in a short span of time to commemorate Verdi on the fourth year of his death. It's almost chamber music: written for choir, solo viola and organ it shows Puccini's humbleness towards the great Verdi, of whom he was the artistic heir.

Giorgio Magri, the musicologist who rediscovered it in 1972, writes that this piece "was almost certainly written in one day [14.01.1905], in one go, but was thought ahead for the choice of the text and the scoring, extremely original". It's a short and intimate piece, a token of appreciation for the great musician of Busseto whose Aida started the sparkle of opera in Puccini's heart, back in 1876.

Messa di Gloria

The title is already wrong, though now it's the one that this work is known as: the original title was simply Messa or Messa a quattro voci. It's a work that Puccini composed as an exercise in 1880, reusing a Credo written two years earlier as a standalone composition. It's a complete mass and not just a Messa di Gloria (which includes only the Kyrie and the Gloria omitting the other canonical parts of a mass, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei).

Puccini never published the full manuscript; he did, however, reuse some of the musical material: the Agnus Dei in Manon Lescaut and the Kyrie in Edgar.

Piccolo tango

It's a known fact that Puccini traveled to Argentina in 1905 trying to find more information about his little brother, Michele, who had emigrated in 1888 and had mysteriously died in 1891. While in Buenos Aires, Puccini attended a performance of Edgar and was honored with some 72 banquets. Naturally, he was exposed to the local music and this is how this little piece for piano came about a few years later.

Sogno d'or

A rare lullaby written in 1912 on a text by Carlo Marsili.

Bimbo, mio bimbo d'amor,
mentre tu dormi così
un angiol santo si parte lontan
per incontrarsi con te
sul candido origlier.
E t'avvolge di fiabe in un vol,
e ti narra di fate e tesor!
Bimbo d'amor, ecco il sogno d'or!

Calmo e molto lento

This piece was written in 1916 for a catalog to raise money for the families of the victims of World War I.

Written for piano solo, it practically disappeared from the performance halls.

Other compositions

Puccini's catalog counts some 90 numbers, including his 12 operas. Many compositions are exercises of a student, while others are occasional works. While most of them disappeared, others were included in his operas: the famous waltz of Musetta from act two of La Bohéme, was, in fact, composed in 1894 as a standalone piece commissioned for a ceremony in which the Italian flag was presented to a new military ship.

The march Scossa elettrica was written for a world congress of telegraphists held in Como (Italy) in 1899, for the one-hundredth anniversary of the invention of the galvanic battery.

And then a few songs, fugues, musical jokes. Also, a hymn commissioned while he was in Argentina (Dios y Patria) and the more famous Inno a Roma, wrongly thought to be written for the fascist party, while, in fact, it had been commissioned to celebrate the Italian capital in 1918, four years before the fascists came to power. The fascist party did use it more often than not and that's the main reason behind it being completely forgotten after World War II.

A full list of compositions can be found here.

Credits:
Featured image by Providence Doucet

Photo of Franchetti-Mascagni-Puccini by Adert (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Composer and conductor, Gianmaria Griglio is the co-founder and Artistic Director of ARTax Music.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"God told me to only write for the theater, and so I did" - This statement by Puccini is only partially true: while his success and fame are certainly due to his operatic works, there are some minor and not-so-minor compositions that were not destined to the stage.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Catalogo delle opere di Giacomo Puccini - Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I numeri di catalogo delle opere e i dati catalografici inseriti nelle schede fanno riferimento a Dieter Schickling, Giacomo Puccini. Catalogue of the Works, Kassel, Bärenreiter, 2003, cui si rimanda per le informazioni complete sulle fonti manoscritte e a stampa.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Manon Lescaut was Puccini's first successful opera: inspired by the novel " Histoire du chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut" by Antoine François Prévost, the opera was composed between 1889 and 1892. The libretto went under several reviews and librettists: Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva, Ruggero Leoncavallo and finally Luigi Illica, who mostly worked on the beginning of the second act and on the whole third act. The libretto was published by Ricordi without the name of its authors.

Puccini had his own ideas and, already in the early stages of his career, was very demanding. His high sense of theater made him change part of the dramatic arc and remove completely one act, entirely focused on the love nest of the two lovers, originally placed between the current first and second act.

Genesys

Puccini was fresh of an unsuccessful production of Edgar, whose libretto by Ferdinando Fontana was judged by many not up to par. While reworking on some parts of Edgar, Puccini was already thinking about his next opera: Tosca. However, Ricordi had already signed in July 1889 Praga and Oliva to write a libretto based on the Prévost's novel and Tosca would have had to be put off for another decade, after two other operas, Manon Lescaut and La Bohème. Curiously, the subject had been pitched to Puccini some four years earlier by Fontana himself, but Puccini did not seem interested in it at the time.

Busy with the rework of Edgar and with a reduction of Wagner's " Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" (commissioned by Ricordi), Puccini confidently enough takes on the new adventure of what would become his first mature opera. In January 1890, Puccini writes the small string quartet "Crisantemi" (chrysanthemums) dedicated to the memory of Amedeo of Savoia, Duke of Aosta: the music from this quartet became an integral part of Manon Lescaut.

Costume designs for Des Grieux, Manon and Geronte for the first production at the Teatro Regio in Turin, February 1st, 1893.

While Puccini was working on the music and orchestration of act I, the librettists were working on the other parts of the opera. But when the composer showed high disappointment for their work, Marco Praga, quite successful at the time, decided to pull out. Ricordi at this point called Leoncavallo, not yet famous as a composer. The work proceeded at a faster pace for some time but it came to a stop again in the second act. At which point Illica was called to intervene and, with Puccini's suggestion of cutting an entire act and grouping other scenes, the libretto was finally completed.

Manon Lescaut, initially destined to the Teatro alla Scala, debuted at the Teatro Regio in Turin on February 1st, 1893. The subject had already interested two French composers: Daniel Auber and Jules Massenet. Puccini didn't care. When Marco Praga pointed out that he would have had to stand a comparison, especially with the highly successful Massenet, Puccini answered:

"He'll feel it the French way, with powder and minuets; I will feel it the Italian way, with desperate passion".

Act I

A large square at the door of Paris, at Amiens

Near a tavern, students, bourgeois, and girls are joking about themes of love and youth. One of the students, Renato Des Grieux, boasts of his indifference to love (" L'amor? Questa tragedia, ovver commedia, io non conosco! ")

A carriage arrives, from which Manon Lescaut, a girl destined for monastic life, and her brother get out. Manon's brother in the libretto is only called by surname: Lescaut. When Des Grieux sees Manon, it's love at first sight. As soon as the girl remains alone, he approaches her and, when she returns to her brother, he manages to get a new date with her.

Meanwhile, Lescaut concocts his sister's abduction. In this way, she will become the lover of Geronte, a wealthy banker, and he will share her luxurious life. But one of the students, Edmondo, hears the dialogue, informs his friend Des Grieux and organizes a countermove: Renato will kidnap Manon, beating old Geronte. Des Grieux manages to convince Manon to escape with him, and as students salute the carriage of the two lovers, Geronte plans his revenge. Lescaut, on the other hand, is sure that his sister will not put up long with a modest life.

" Donna non vidi mai " from Giacomo Puccini's 1893 opera Manon Lescaut, Act 1, sung by Enrico Caruso. recorded on 24 February, 1913.

Act II

In Paris

We are in the living room of Geronte's house. As predicted, the idyll lasted very little and Manon went back to her brother to become the banker's lover. We see her looking at herself in the mirror as she prepares for a reception, during which she will have to perform in dance and singing. However, the girl begins to get bored and to feel nostalgia for Des Grieux, so much that her brother, in order to prevent the situation from collapsing, decides to call Des Grieux to the palace.

The reception is over, Manon is alone. Des Grieux breaks in the room with all his passion. The guy is, of course, furious, but Manon, with all her charm, finds the right words to ease him up. In the midst of a long hug arrives Geronte, who, even in front of the girl's sarcasm that reminds him of their age difference, doesn't get outraged and leaves them with a strange "Arrivederci ... e presto!" ("See you...very soon").

Manon does not realize she is in danger. Des Grieux begs her to flee immediately, but even when her brother bursts in to warn her that Geronte has denounced her, Manon can not resolve to leave all that wealth behind. Just as she attempts to take some jewels, the guards come in and arrest her as thief and adulterer.

Act III

Le Havre, at the port

It's night. Manon is locked up with other courtesans in the Le Havre's jail, waiting to be boarded at dawn on a ship to the United States. Lescaut arranges for her to break out, but the plan fails, and when the sergeant begins to call everyone that needs to be deported, Des Grieux is left with only one chance: plead for the commander of the ship so that he can board along with her. His words and tears move the commander and the two lovers leave for America together.

Act IV

In America: a boundless land on the edge of New Orleans

In the evening, on a rough ground, Manon and Des Grieux roam around not knowing where to go, exhausted by fatigue. Once again, the girl's imprudence has forced them to escape, but it will be the last one. Manon is tired, falls to the ground, unable to continue. There is no water. The horizon does not reveal a shadow of life. Her faithful lover can do nothing more than cry out his desperation and listen to her last words; the beautiful and voluptuous Manon dies in his arms, smiling lovingly for the last time.

Manon Lescaut: recordings

As it can be expected, the list of recordings for Manon Lescaut is quite extensive (and keeps growing). The first studio recording of the full opera is from 1931, with orchestra and chorus of the Teatro alla Scala, conductor Lorenzo Molajoli and Maria Zamboni (Manon), Francesco Merli (Des Grieux), Lorenzo Conati (Lescaut) and Attilio Bordonali (Geronte).

Arturo Toscanini, one of Puccini's greatest interpreters and a personal friend of the Maestro, recorded it in 1946 with Mafalda Favero as Manon, Giovanni Malipiero as Des Grieux and Mariano Stabile as Lescaut, again with Teatro alla Scala.

One of my all time favorite recording dates back to 1954: the Santa Cecilia orchestra is led by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli and features Mario Del Monaco as Des Grieux, Renata Tebaldi as Manon, Mario Borriello as Lescaut and Fernando Corena as Geronte.

A partial but quite complete list of recordings can be found on this page.

Final thoughts

Prévost's work was a source of inspiration for quite a few artists and recalled by many in different works: in classical music, it was turned into an opera by Auber, Massenet, Puccini, and Henze (with his 1951 " Boulevard Solitude"); l' Histoire du Manon is a ballet (based on Massenet's music) that debuted in 1974 at the Royal Ballet of London; the first movie comes as early as 1927 with When a man loves by Alan Crosland.

The novel was cited as well a number of times in different works: the 28th chapter of the second part of Stendhal's " Le Rouge et Le Noir" is titled Manon Lescaut; in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian is reading Manon Lescaut while waiting for Lord Henry Wotton; in La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas (which served as a basis for Verdi's La Traviata) a copy of Manon Lescaut is found at the auction of Marguerite Gautier's estate and a parallelism is formed between the Manon and Marguerite.

Prévost's work certainly left its trace in history. So did its interpretation by Puccini: Manon Lescaut is one of the most performed and passionate operas, which left a profound mark in Italian verismo.

Sources and resources:
The costume designs for the first production of Manon Lescaut are by Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928). Sources: Des Grieux, Manon, Geronte.

Source for the 1913 recording by Caruso can be found here: the original recording has been slightly cleaned by Adam Cuerden. Collected Caruso recordings are available at the Internet Archive.

Postcard from the poster of the first production by Vespasiano Bignami (1841-1929)

Dieter Schickling: Giacomo Puccini, la vita e l'arte.

The Italian libretto with English translation can be found here.

Cover photo by Alvin Mahmudov; top post photo by Brooke Cagle

Composer and conductor, Gianmaria Griglio is the co-founder and Artistic Director of ARTax Music.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Manon Lescaut was Puccini's first successful opera: inspired by the novel " Histoire du chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut" by Antoine François Prévost, the opera was composed between 1889 and 1892. The libretto went under several reviews and librettists: Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva, Ruggero Leoncavallo and finally Luigi Illica, who mostly worked on the beginning of the second act and on the whole third act.

# data[].attributes.body
Puccini. Tosca

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Puccini: Tosca opening (Karajan, cond. : DWTKenInNY : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

# data[].attributes.body
Creative Commons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Puccini Messa Di Gloria : smce : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Part of a live concert featuring Puccini Messa Di Gloria.Playlist:01 Kyrie02 Gloria03 Credo04 Sanctus05 Agnus Dei

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Manon Lescaut è un'opera in quattro atti di Giacomo Puccini

La prima rappresentazione ebbe luogo la sera del 1º febbraio 1893 al Teatro Regio di Torino, dove l'opera ottenne un successo clamoroso

Ispirata al romanzo dell'abate Antoine François Prévost, Storia del cavaliere Des Grieux e di Manon Lescaut, il libretto, iniziato da Ruggero Leoncavallo che abbandonò presto il lavoro, fu scritto in gran parte da Marco Praga e Domenico Oliva. A completarlo e rifinirlo fu però Luigi Illica, che in particolare lavorò al terzo atto e alla scena iniziale del secondo. Nessuno dei poeti alla fine lo firmò.

Questa girandola di librettisti, in ultima analisi, dimostra come l'unico vero "autore" di Manon Lescaut sia Puccini, che arrivò a eliminare di sana pianta un atto.

Alcune modifiche alla partitura orchestrale furono infine suggerite da Arturo Toscanini, per la storica ripresa del trentennale, alla Scala di Milano.
Trama
Atto I

"Un vasto piazzale presso la porta di Parigi, ad Amiens."

Nei pressi di un'osteria, studenti, borghesi e ragazze scherzano sui temi dell'amore e della giovinezza. Uno degli studenti, Renato Des Grieux, vanta la propria indifferenza verso l'amore.

Giunge una carrozza, dalla quale scendono Manon Lescaut, una ragazza destinata alla vita monastica, e il fratello, nel libretto indicato con il solo cognome: Lescaut. Quando Des Grieux vede Manon, è amore a prima vista. Non appena la ragazza rimane sola, le si avvicina e, al ritorno del fratello di lei, riesce a strapparle un nuovo appuntamento.

Nel frattempo Lescaut architetta il rapimento della sorella per conto del ricco banchiere Geronte di Ravoir. In tal modo lei diventerà l'amante del banchiere e lui ne condividerà la vita lussuosa. Ma uno degli studenti, Edmondo, ascolta il dialogo, informa l'amico Des Grieux e organizza una contromossa: sarà Renato a rapire Manon, battendo sul tempo il vecchio Geronte. A fatica Des Grieux riesce a convincere Manon a fuggire con lui e, mentre gli studenti salutano la partenza in carrozza dei due innamorati, Geronte medita vendetta. Lescaut, d'altronde, si dice certo che la sorella non sopporterà a lungo una vita modesta

Siamo nel salotto della casa di Geronte. Come volevasi dimostrare, l'idillio è durato poco e Manon ha raggiunto il fratello per diventare la mantenuta del banchiere. La vediamo allo specchio, mentre si prepara per un ricevimento, durante il quale dovrà esibirsi nel ballo e nel canto. Senonché la ragazza comincia ad annoiarsi e a provare nostalgia per Des Grieux, tanto che il fratello, per evitare che la situazione precipiti, decide di chiamare di nascosto Des Grieux a palazzo.

Il ricevimento è terminato, Manon è sola. Nella sua camera irrompe Des Grieux e, con lui, la passione di un tempo. Il ragazzo naturalmente è furibondo, ma, forte del suo fascino, Manon trova facilmente le parole per ammansirlo. Peccato che nel bel mezzo di un lungo abbraccio arrivi Geronte, che senza troppo scomporsi, anche di fronte all'ironia della ragazza che gli ricorda la differenza d'età, si accomiata con un sibillino "arrivederci... e presto!".

Manon non si rende conto del pericolo. Des Grieux la supplica di fuggire immediatamente, ma persino quando il fratello, precipitatosi a palazzo, la avverte che Geronte l'ha denunciata, Manon non sa decidersi a lasciare tutte quelle ricchezze. Proprio mentre tenta di recuperare un po' di gioielli qua e là per la stanza, entrano le guardie e la arrestano come ladra e adultera.

"L'Havre. Piazzale presso il porto."

È notte. Manon è rinchiusa con altre cortigiane nella prigione di Le Havre, in attesa di essere imbarcata all'alba in una nave diretta verso gli Stati Uniti. Lescaut organizza una fuga per evitare la deportazione, ma il piano fallisce e, quando il sergente degli arcieri inizia l'appello delle deportate, a Des Grieux non rimane che una possibilità: supplicare il comandante della nave affinché accetti di imbarcarlo insieme a lei. Le sue parole e le sue lacrime commuovono il comandante e i due innamorati partono per l'ennesimo viaggio.
Atto IV
"In America. Una landa interminata sui confini della Nuova Orleans."

Sotto il sole rovente del deserto di New Orleans, Manon e Des Grieux vagano senza meta, stremati dalla fatica. Ancora una volta, l'imprudenza della ragazza li ha costretti alla fuga, ma sarà l'ultima. Manon è stanca, cade al suolo, incapace di proseguire. Non c'è acqua. L'orizzonte non rivela ombra di vita. Il suo amante fedele non può fare più nulla, se non gridare la sua disperazione e ascoltare le sue ultime parole; la bella e voluttuosa Manon muore fra le sue braccia, sorridendogli amorosamente per l'ultima volta.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
La prima rappresentazione ebbe luogo la sera del 1º febbraio 1893 al Teatro Regio di Torino, dove l'opera ottenne un successo clamoroso Ispirata al romanzo dell'abate Antoine François Prévost, Storia del cavaliere Des Grieux e di Manon Lescaut, il libretto, iniziato da Ruggero Leoncavallo che abbandonò presto il lavoro, fu scritto in gran parte da Marco Praga e Domenico Oliva.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discover recipes, home ideas, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.liberliber.it/mediateca/musica/p/puccini/manon_lescaut/scala/puccini_manon_les_34_fra_le_tue.mp3