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.
Performance history
The opera was premièred on 23 February 1856 by the
Opéra-Comique 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.Loewenberg A.
Annals of Opera. London, John Calder, 1978. 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.
Roles
Synopsis
The story only loosely resembles the original novel by Prévost (where, for instance, Lescaut is Manon's...
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