Massenet: Manon / Gheorghiu, Alagna, Pappano

Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna / Orchestre Symphonique et Chœurs de la Monnaie, Antonio Pappano

Massenet: Manon

Capricious, mercurial and amoral, Manon Lescaut is as enchanting as she is reprehensible. Massenet’s opera, first performed in 1884, is based on the 18th century novel by the Abbé Prevost which also inspired Puccini’s first great success. When the teenage Manon encounters the young Chevalier des Grieux in a coaching inn, it is love at first sight and the two run away together to Paris. While Manon loves Des Grieux in her way, her irresistible fondness for material pleasures leads first to infidelity and ultimately to her ruin. Throughout, Des Grieux remains besotted with her. Even when he attempts to break her spell by becoming a priest, he betrays his continuing obsession in the aria ‘Ah! Fuyez, douce image’, and soon, with the beguiling ’N’est-ce plus ma main?’, Manon has seduced him once again. Her finest public moment comes with her glittering performance in the scene on the Cours-la-Reine, but she reveals a sentimental side in ‘Adieu, notre petite table’ – even as she prepares to leave Des Grieux for a rich admirer – and in the final moments of her life, when, sick, exhausted and due for imminent deportation from France, she sees the evening star, shining like a diamond.

Price: $43.98