Manon Lescaut

The sexually liberated heroine of Prévost’s novel Manon Lescaut scandalised 18th-century readers but captivated 19th-century composers. Puccini’s operatic version of her story was not the first, but he made it entirely his own, approaching the beautiful Manon’s free spirit and tragic fate “as an Italian, with desperate passion!” When it premiered in 1893, it became Puccini’s first major hit, and it’s still as seductive and original, blending an unmistakably Italian flair with a subtle, watercolour sense of the drama’s setting in 18th-century France and America. It’s also the opera in which Puccini perfected his later trademarks: lush orchestration, uninhibited emotion and soaring romantic arias (like the hero Des Grieux’s “Donna non vidi mai”). The heart-rending death scene, where Manon and Des Grieux meet their fate in the wastes of Louisiana, makes it Puccini’s first great tearjerker. Have a handkerchief at the ready.