Manon Lescaut
- Composer: Giacomo Puccini
- Librettist: anonymous
The libretto was originally drafted by Marco Praga (1862-1929) and
Domenico Oliva (1860-1917); it was reworked, first by
Ruggero Leoncavallo
and then by
Luigi Illica.
Giulio Ricordi (1840-1912), the publisher, may have contributed three or four
lines to the libretto, possibly the last three lines of Act 3. Three decades
later, for the last of the many minor revisions the opera underwent,
Giuseppe Adami (1878-1946; he was not quite fifteen at the time of the
premiere), at the composer's request, altered the 2nd through 4th lines
of Manon's Act 4 aria.
- Source: Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, novel
by the abbé Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles (1679-1763)
- First performance: Teatro Regio, Turin, 1 Feb 1893
- Performance History
- Libretto (in progress)
- Synopsis
1 Dec 2005