Search - Andrea Bocelli :: Puccini: Manon Lescaut

The story of the doomed heroine Manon Lescaut has inspired more than one composer, but is perhaps most passionately portrayed in Puccinis opera, written just ten years after Massenets Manon

A grim story of love, betrayal, jealousy and death, it calls for dramatic, forceful performance, and gets the full treatment here in this new studio recording starring Andrea Bocelli

Now Andrea Bocelli brings the full weight of his emotionally charged personality to the tragic role of Puccinis Des Grieux

This album will be accompanied by a simultaneous release of Opera - The Ultimate Collection a definitive collection of the best-loved arias from Andrea Bocelli

Manon Lescaut was Puccinis third opera but was the first to bring him European fame. It was based on the eighteenth-century novel by the Abbé Prévost which had already been used as a source for operas by Auber in 1856 and, more famously, by Massenet (with Manon) in 1884. As far as possible Puccinis libretto avoided scenes already used by Massenet and was the work of a number of hands, including Ruggero Leoncavallo, Giulio Ricordi (Puccinis publisher) and Puccini himself. But the chief credit must undoubtedly go to Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, the future librettists of La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The opera was first produced at the Teatro Regio, Turin, in February 1893 and achieved an immediate success. After the London premiere in 1894 George Bernard Shaw, then a music critic, wrote the prophetic words: Puccini looks to me more like the heir to Verdi than any of his rivals. - Kenneth Chalmers

GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 1924)
MANON LESCAUT
Dramma lirico in quattro atti
Libretto di Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa, Ruggero Leoncavallo, ecc.

Manon Lescaut ANA MARÍA MARTÍNEZ
Il Cavaliere Renato des Grieux ANDREA BOCELLI
studente a student étudiant ein Student
Lescaut JAVIER ARREY
sergente della Guardia del Re sergeant of the King s guard
sergent de la garde du roi Sergeant der königlichen Garde
Un musico MARIAM BATTISTELLI*
A musician Un Musicien Ein Musiker
Edmondo MATTHEW PEÑA
studente a student étudiant ein Student
Geronte di Ravoir MAURIZIO MURARO
tesoriere generale Treasurer-General
trésorier général königlicher Steuerpächter
Il sergente degli arcieri GERMÁN OLVERA*
The sergeant of the archers Le Sergent des archers
Der Sergeant der Bogenschützen
Un lampionaio VALENTINO BUZZA*
A lamplighter Un Allumeur de révèrberes Ein Laternenanzünder
Un comandante di marina FRANCESCO SALVADORI*
A naval captain Un Commandant de navire Ein Schiffskapitän
L oste GERMÁN OLVERA*
The landlord L Aubergiste Der Wirt
Il maestro di ballo DAVID ASTORGA*
The dancing master Le Maître à danser Der Tanzlehrer
Fanciulle, borghesi, popolane, studenti, popolani, musici, vecchi signori ed abati,
cortigiane, arcieri, soldati di marina, marinai
Girls, townspeople, men and women, students, musicians, old men and abbés,
courtesans, archers, marines, sailors
Jeunes filles, bourgeois, gens du peuple, étudiants, musiciens, gentilshommes et abbés,
courtisanes, archers, marins
Mädchen, Bürger, Volk, Studenten, Musikanten, alte Herren und Äbte, Kurtisanen,
Bogenschützen, Marinesoldaten, Matrosen

*Centre de perfeccionament Plácido Domingo

Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana
Coro de la Generalitat Valenciana
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO