Of all Jules Massenet’s
operas it is his earlier work Manon
that has proved to be the most popular
... and with good reason. His adaptation
of the Abbé Prévost’s
novel Manon Lescaut (next to
those of Auber [1856] and Puccini [1893]
and the ballet by Halévy [1830])
contains some of the most melodramatic
and genuinely heart-rending passages
in all opera. The characters and emotions
of the two leads, Manon and the Chevalier
des Grieux are vividly drawn in music
and their plight is depicted larger-than-life
- as it is in all good Nineteenth Century
opera - but totally believable nevertheless.
Taken together with its sharply contrasted
and many coloured settings, this opera
is a highly effective theatre piece.
Therefore, to make up for the inherent
loss of the immediacy of a theatre performance,
a recording of this opera begs for singing
and conducting that are vivid and dramatic.
These qualities are abundantly present
in this live recording from Milan.
At the start of the
opera, we encounter young Manon Lescaut
in the bustling courtyard of an inn
at Amiens. She is on her way to the
convent and is supposed to meet her
cousin Lescaut at the inn. After having
been rudely courted by the old and wealthy
Guillot, she meets the romantic cavalier
Des Grieux, on his way to a reunion
with his father. Their duet quickly
evolves into a mutual declaration of
love and they decide to elope to Paris.
While Des Grieux sings of going off
together, Manon is more fascinated by
the prospect of Paris. It is the first
sign of a fatal incompatibility.
In the second act we
find the two lovers in rather poor surroundings
in Paris. While Des Grieux, without
much hope, is writing his father a letter
for permission to marry his love, cousin
Lescaut enters and fakes a scene about
the offended family honour. Meanwhile
the elderly and rich De Brétigny
secretly informs Manon of Des Grieux’s
father’s intent to abduct his son that
evening in order to bring him back home
and restore him to a respectable life.
He offers Manon a glittering future
if she comes with him. That evening
her lover is abducted without warning,
leaving a regretful Manon behind.
In the third act Manon,
now leading a rich and glamorous life
and attending some festivities, meets
Des Grieux père. As he
does not know who she is, Manon is able
to learn from him that his son has entered
the monastery of St. Sulpice and is
about to take his vows. While the festivities
continue Manon hurries off, as she wants
to see her former lover one more time.
When she finds him in the church, her
love for him quickly overtakes her and
he lets himself be seduced into running
off again.
In the last two acts
Guillot takes his revenge on the couple
at a sumptuous gaming salon by accusing
Des Grieux of cheating at cards and
Manon of loose morals. While both of
them are arrested, Des Grieux’s influential
father intercedes on his son’s behalf
but leaves Manon helpless. She is sentenced
to exile in Louisiana. On her way to
Le Havre she dies in the arms of Des
Grieux.
Being an Opéra
Comique it is only predictable that
its characters are rather standard and
given little or no development. However,
the lead character is of great interest,
as the role is complex and paradoxical
in nature. It is this that leads Manon
onto her destructive path. Manon is
the catalyst of the story and therefore
the main attraction.
Within Manon honesty
contradicts wickedness. It is her honesty
that makes her not only wicked despite
herself, but truly good despite herself,
too. Massenet succeeds perfectly in
portraying this contradiction. In the
opera Manon is a girl who not only passionately
embraces all that life has to offer,
but also every aspect of her character,
the good and the bad. This combines
into a will to live that is self-destructive
and ultimately fatal.
Mirella Freni gives
the perfect impersonation of this tragic
character. In Addio, o nostro picciol
desco in act II Manon has decided
to leave her lover and the poor life
that came with him for the riches of
Brétigny. She sings her goodbye
to happier days with Des Grieux and
the listener hears her becoming overwhelmed
by her self-imposed fate. She is almost
driven to desperation by her inner conflict.
This desperation comes back at the end
of the act after Des Grieux has been
abducted by his father’s men. At that
point Manon lets out a terrible cry
of regret and ends in uncontrolled sobbing.
In the third act, in
the duet at the seminary of St. Sulpice
Tu!..Voi!.. La tua non è la
mano, Freni sings the beguiling
Manon in a wildly erotic though simultaneously
desperate manner, bordering on the psychopathic.
She is answered by an equally aroused
Pavarotti as Des Grieux. Hearing this
scene and the audience reaction to it
will no doubt give goose bumps to even
the most seasoned listener.
Des Grieux is a less
interesting character, as he is a stock-in-trade;
the somewhat gullible but good-hearted
tenor who becomes the victim of the
femme fatale. Nevertheless the
character is very satisfying and the
part has some very rewarding numbers
both for the singer and the audience.
As far as range and technique is concerned
the young Pavarotti proves himself a
perfect singer for this role. He catches
all the high notes - possibly even more
than required - seemingly without effort.
In addition and surprisingly
he is also not far from what a French
interpretation should sound like. He
turns out not to be the ferocious
verismo blaster, but a passionate and
graceful singer. He displays a lot of
fine ‘French’ grace in a piece such
as his second act aria Chiudo gli
occhi e nel pensier. His phrasing
and tenderness are in character with
Massenet’s writing. Even though passion
is never far off it remains controlled
by Massenet’s subtle vocal lines which
often make an unexpected turn towards
the tender instead of the expected spectacular.
There is another good example of Pavarotti
following the composer’s cue of controlled
passion. It can be found in the third
act where Pavarotti gives a heart-breaking
rendition of Ah! dispar vision.
Indeed, Italy seems to be closer than
France, but that has more to do with
the Italian language in which this performance
is sung than with style. After all,
French opera and especially Massenet
can and should be sung passionately
too. This recording proves that French
opera can be at least as engaging as
its late Nineteenth Century Italian
counterpart.
In this 1969 recording
Mirella Freni and Pavarotti are in their
youthful prime and on top of the world.
Their singing is passionate and they
take all the difficulties Massenet created
for these two roles with great ease
and with power to spare. Take for instance
the incredibly long, sustained note
in unison, at the end of Manon and Des
Grieux's passionate duet A parigi,
andrem in the first act. What power,
what stamina and what excellent voices!
It will leave the listener gulping for
air. Their whole performance is filled
with thrilling moments like these: The
aforementioned X-rated church scene
in act three is wild and the death scene
touchingly melodramatic. These factors
make it a must-have recording for lovers
of great, passionate singing and of
course for aficionados of Freni and
Pavarotti.
The other singers are
more than adequate. Antonio Zerbini
has a rounded, sonorous bass, making
the father appropriately severe, while
Rolando Panerai is a nasty, menacing
Lescaut. The small baritone role of
De Brétigny is filled by the
bass Giuseppi Morresi. Peter Maag's
conducting of the La Scala forces is
very dramatic and powerful. The fact
that it is a live recording no doubt
contributes to the splendidly dramatic
performance. There is frequent and enthusiastic
audience engagement. Depending on ones
preference this can either be annoying
or make for a great experience as it
can enhance the illusion of being part
of the performance.
As for authenticity
- which I very much advocate - this
recording cannot be relied on. Firstly,
it is in Italian, not the original French.
This can at times sound awkward - as
translated opera's tend to do - and
it partly deprives the music of its
typical, French charm.
Secondly, the opera
has been brutally cut. The cuts in the
first act are still rather conventional,
even by today’s standards; it is generally
acknowledged that the first act is too
long for its own dramatic good. However,
ending the act with the duet between
Manon and Des Grieux instead of the
following public scene – where Lescaut
is publicly humiliated when he finds
out his sister has eloped - was certainly
done to capitalize on the stunning effect
of the duet, not to enhance dramatic
coherence. Even worse is the omission
of the first half of the third act,
the scene at the Cours-la-Reine.
One can understand, albeit grudgingly,
that they left out the ballet, as the
extra costs can be prohibitive. However,
the rest of the scene is of significant
dramatic importance as it illuminates
Manon’s affair with Brétigny
and her decision to leave him for Des
Grieux. In fairness I should stress
that Opera d’Oro has been kind enough
to warn the potential buyer of this
substantial omission on the back of
the CD’s cover.
The presentation of
this issue is what one has come to expect
from a low budget publisher: bare and
only partly to the point. However, it
is an improvement on some earlier releases
by this company. The warning about the
omission of Act III, scene 1 has already
been mentioned. While there is hardly
any background information on the opera
and the composer, the publishers have
opted to use the sparse space available
to them for a proper synopsis instead
- which does include the omitted
first scene of Act III. The track-list
does not give timing indications, which
can be annoying and would have been
easy to include. The entry lines are
given in the original French instead
of the actually used Italian. This is
hardly confusing but an interesting
decision nonetheless.
In the booklet of a
previous release of this recording -
by Frequenz - the five act work was
compressed to four, taking the last
two acts together. It is not clear whether
the La Scala production did the same,
or not. Although this is how the opera
was originally structured, this was
aided by the elimination of the entire
first part of act three as it would
have been silly to have three such short
acts in a row. Once the cuts have been
made, it is only a matter of name-giving.
This release gives the five act division.
These more or less
negative considerations are outweighed
by the splendid musical performance.
The recording quality is good enough.
The sound is dry but relatively clear
and the singers can almost always be
clearly heard above the orchestra. However,
after comparing the overall sound quality
with the aforementioned Frequenz release
the Opera d’Oro issue seems to lose
out. The orchestral sound is not always
at a steady pitch, where in the previous
release it was. This problem seems to
get worse towards the end of the second
CD - Oh!, the wind instruments! Even
though the actual cause could no longer
be traced, Opera d’Oro assumed they
must have used a different source recording.
In most cases there are many source
masters for any given recording. Obviously,
finding and licensing the best master
can be a tricky, if not impossible affair.
There are a few strongly
cast recordings that are sung in French
as well as being uncut. The recent set
with Alagna and Gheorghiu is quite good,.
This is joined by an idiomatic 1956
recording with Victoria de Los Angeles
and Henry Legay with the ensemble of
the Opéra Comique conducted by
Pierre Monteux. These two should certainly
be part of the collection of any admirers
of Manon, Massenet or of French opera
in general. One way or another they
lack the passionate fire and sheer thrill
of this one. If you want to hear stupendous
singing from two of the greatest Italian
stars of the twentieth century caught
in their prime and you do not mind the
cuts and frequent frantic applause from
a delirious audience, this will be an
excellent purchase. The Decca recording
of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut with
Pavarotti and Freni makes for an interesting
comparison.
Joost Overdijkink
Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala,
Milan/Peter Maag 
