Manon Lescaut (Auber)
Encyclopedia
Manon Lescaut is an opera or opéra comique
in 3 acts by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber to a libretto by Eugène Scribe
, and, like Puccini
's Manon Lescaut
and Massenet's Manon
, is based on the Abbé Prévost
's story Manon Lescaut
. Auber's version is the least-performed of the three.
at the second Salle Favart in Paris. It was the first work to be staged by that company that did not have a happy ending. It was staged in Liege in 1875, and revived at the Opéra-Comique in 1882. However, it subsequently disappeared from the repertory.
In North America, the opera was performed once around 1977 in New York City by a small opera company, and another live performance occurred in 2006, given by the Lyric Opera of Los Angeles
at the Los Angeles Theatre
.
In 1990, it was staged at the Opéra Comique de Paris
with the Picardy Sinfonietta in Amiens conducted by Patrick Fournillier. Next year the live recording of the opera was released by the French label Le Chant du Monde. Another stage performance took place at the Wexford Festival
in October/November, 2002.
, features three full airs or couplets before he dies at the end of Act II. Des Grieux has two major arias in Massenet's opera, four in Puccini's - but none in Auber's, although he does take part in one of the work's best numbers, the death of Manon at the very end of the opera.
One number in the score retained its popularity after the rest of the opera was all but forgotten. This was Manon's solo, "C'est l'histoire amoureuse", also known as "L'éclat de rire" or the Laughing Song. It is not a free-standing aria (in fact, it forms part of the Act 1 finale), but since its creation it has been a popular showcase for the technique of coloratura sopranos such as Adelina Patti
(who sang it during the lesson scene in The Barber of Seville
), Amelita Galli-Curci
, Joan Sutherland
and Edita Gruberová
.
. Additionally, the only known copy of the conductor's score was only available on microfilm at the New York Public Library. There were no individual parts for the orchestral players available in the U.S. Parts have been created through a meticulous cut & paste operation performed over the course of many weeks on the public-domain conductor's score.
Opéra comique
Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...
in 3 acts by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber to a libretto by Eugène Scribe
Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...
, and, like Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost....
and Massenet's Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, is based on the Abbé Prévost
Antoine François Prévost
Antoine François Prévost , usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French author and novelist.- Life and works :...
's story Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut is a short novel by French author Abbé Prévost. Published in 1731, it is the seventh and final volume of Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité . It was controversial in its time and was banned in France upon publication...
. Auber's version is the least-performed of the three.
Performance history
The opera was premièred on 23 February 1856 by the Opéra-ComiqueOpéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
at the second Salle Favart in Paris. It was the first work to be staged by that company that did not have a happy ending. It was staged in Liege in 1875, and revived at the Opéra-Comique in 1882. However, it subsequently disappeared from the repertory.
In North America, the opera was performed once around 1977 in New York City by a small opera company, and another live performance occurred in 2006, given by the Lyric Opera of Los Angeles
Lyric Opera of Los Angeles
Lyric Opera of Los Angeles is a small non-profit opera company in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2002 by Laura Sage and features lesser known opera works that have rarely been made into staged productions. Lyric Opera of Los Angeles has since put on several premiere productions...
at the Los Angeles Theatre
Los Angeles Theatre
The Los Angeles Theatre is a 2,000 seat movie palace located at 615 S. Broadway in the historic Broadway Theater and Commercial District in Downtown Los Angeles.-History:...
.
In 1990, it was staged at the Opéra Comique de Paris
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
with the Picardy Sinfonietta in Amiens conducted by Patrick Fournillier. Next year the live recording of the opera was released by the French label Le Chant du Monde. Another stage performance took place at the Wexford Festival
Wexford Festival Opera
The Wexford Festival Opera is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in South-Eastern Ireland during the months of October and November.-Festival origins under Tom Walsh, 1951 to 1966:...
in October/November, 2002.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 23 February 1856 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| Manon Lescaut | coloratura Coloratura Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and... soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Marie Cabel Marie Cabel Marie Cabel was a Belgian coloratura soprano. She is probably best remembered for having created the role of Philine in Ambroise Thomas' opera Mignon.-Early life and career:... |
| Des Grieux | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Henri Puget |
| Le Marquis d'Hérigny | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Jean-Baptiste Faure Jean-Baptiste Faure Jean-Baptiste Faure was a celebrated French operatic baritone and an art collector of great significance. He also composed a number of classical songs.-Singing career:Faure was born in Moulins... |
| Lescaut, Manon's cousin | tenor | Beckers |
| Marguerite, Manon's friend | soprano | Léocadie Lemercier |
| Gervais, her fiancé | tenor | Jourdan |
| Madame Bancelin cabaret hostess | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Mme Félix |
| Monsieur Durozeau commissaire | baritone | Lemaire |
| Monsieur Renaud Inspector | baritone | Nathan |
| Zaby, a young slave | soprano | Mlle Bélia |
| A Sergeant | bass | Duvernoy |
| Two bourgeois | ||
| Court nobles, Bourgeois of the Boulevard du Temple, Soldiers, Male and female workers; Inhabitants of New Orleans, negroes, Colonial soldiers |
||
Synopsis
The story only loosely resembles the original novel by Prévost (where, for instance, Lescaut is Manon's brother, not her cousin). There is one character - the Marquis d'Herigny - who represents the several wealthy suitors that Manon became involved with in the novel. Some other characters are absent entirely, and others are completely new to this telling of the story.Music
The role of Manon Lescaut has possibilities for several high F's, almost never-ending florid passages, and several major arias. The role of the Marquis d'Herigny, written for the famous baritone, Jean-Baptiste FaureJean-Baptiste Faure
Jean-Baptiste Faure was a celebrated French operatic baritone and an art collector of great significance. He also composed a number of classical songs.-Singing career:Faure was born in Moulins...
, features three full airs or couplets before he dies at the end of Act II. Des Grieux has two major arias in Massenet's opera, four in Puccini's - but none in Auber's, although he does take part in one of the work's best numbers, the death of Manon at the very end of the opera.
One number in the score retained its popularity after the rest of the opera was all but forgotten. This was Manon's solo, "C'est l'histoire amoureuse", also known as "L'éclat de rire" or the Laughing Song. It is not a free-standing aria (in fact, it forms part of the Act 1 finale), but since its creation it has been a popular showcase for the technique of coloratura sopranos such as Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti was a highly acclaimed 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851 and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914...
(who sang it during the lesson scene in The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
), Amelita Galli-Curci
Amelita Galli-Curci
Amelita Galli-Curci was an Italian operatic soprano. She was one of the best-known coloratura singers of the early 20th century with her gramophone records selling in large numbers.-Early life:...
, Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
and Edita Gruberová
Edita Gruberová
Edita Gruberová , is a Slovak soprano who is one of the most acclaimed coloraturas of recent decades. She is noted for her great tonal clarity, agility, dramatic interpretation, and ability to sing high notes with great power, which made her an ideal Queen of the Night in her early years...
.
Musicological notes
There was previously only one known copy of the piano/vocal score, able to be checked out from a library. It is now also available through Lyric Opera of Los AngelesLyric Opera of Los Angeles
Lyric Opera of Los Angeles is a small non-profit opera company in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2002 by Laura Sage and features lesser known opera works that have rarely been made into staged productions. Lyric Opera of Los Angeles has since put on several premiere productions...
. Additionally, the only known copy of the conductor's score was only available on microfilm at the New York Public Library. There were no individual parts for the orchestral players available in the U.S. Parts have been created through a meticulous cut & paste operation performed over the course of many weeks on the public-domain conductor's score.
Recordings
- Manon Lescaut - Mady MespléMady MespléMady Mesplé is a French opera singer, the leading high coloratura soprano of her generation in France, sometimes heralded as the successor to Mado Robin.-Biography:...
, Jean-Claude Orliac, Peter-Christoph Runge, Yves Bisson - Choeurs et orchestre lyrique de Radio France, Jean-Pierre MartyJean-Pierre MartyJean-Pierre Marty is a French pianist and conductor.Jean-Pierre Marty was first a pupil of Alfred Cortot, then of Julius Katchen. He started a piano career at the age of 13, first as accompanist to the great cellist Pierre Fournier a few months before appearing in Paris as soloist in three piano...
(conductor) - EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
(recorded in October 1974).
- Manon Lescaut - Elizabeth Vidal, Alain Gabriel, Rene Massis - Les Choeurs Du Theatre Francais De La Musique, the Orchestre Regional De Picardie Le Sinfonietta, Patrick FournillierPatrick FournillierPatrick Fournillier - the French conductor, was born December 26, 1954, in Neuilly-sur-Seine.He studied in Paris with Louis Fourestier and Pierre Dervaux, then in Strasbourg Conservatoire and Salzburg Mozarteum. Between 1983 and 1986 he was assistant conductor in l'Orchestre National de Lille, then...
(conductor) - Le Chant du Monde (recorded live in 1990, released in 1991).