26.04.2013
Manon Lescaut
The tradition of staging concert performances of operas is continuing with a classic Italian opera — Giacomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, which will be performed on 3 and 5 May. When the composer started work on Manon Lescaut, Jules Massenet’s opera on the same subject had been playing in European theatres for eight years, but Puccini was never unduly concerned about that sort of competition. His Manon Lescaut was first performed on 1 February 1893 in Turin (and in St. Petersburg the same year). It was the composer’s first and most undisputed triumph. The première at London’s Covent Garden shortly afterwards led George Bernard Shaw to assert: “Puccini looks to me more like the heir to Verdi than any of his rivals.”
Mikhail Tatarnikov, Mikhailovsky Theatre’s Musical Director and Principal Conductor, is working on Puccini’s score.
“Manon Lescaut could prove to be enormously popular. It has everything going for it: the immortal theme taken from the Abbé Prévost’s famous novel, and music that goes straight to the hearts and souls of the audience. For many music lovers, this is their favourite Puccini opera. It has been said that ‘it is a celebration of beauty, a celebration of voices, a feast for the ears’, and I fully agree. It is a great opera. But! There is just one problem, and it is the same all over the world: the casting. Very powerful performers are needed — otherwise it is better not to attempt Manon Lescaut. However, if you have the necessary cast, it would simply be a sin not to perform it. We now have a cast that can sing it.”
Vladimir Galouzine has been invited to take part in the première. The singer, who has exceptional energy and a unique voice, will perform the role of the Chevalier des Grieux. He once joked in an interview, “This production is very rarely staged... just try to find a crazy tenor who would agree to sing it! It is physically very difficult to maintain. Four acts on stage, complicated arias, crazy tessituras, duets... I adore the music, but I am still rather afraid of this role...It is the most difficult of Puccini’s operas.”
According to Mikhail Tatarnikov, the musicians are so fascinated by the work that they cannot talk about it without getting excited. “That’s real music!”, “It’s pure verismo!” “Very often our sessions are punctuated with such emotional outbursts from the performers”, said the conductor about the atmosphere during rehearsals.
Mikhail Tatarnikov, Mikhailovsky Theatre’s Musical Director and Principal Conductor, is working on Puccini’s score.
“Manon Lescaut could prove to be enormously popular. It has everything going for it: the immortal theme taken from the Abbé Prévost’s famous novel, and music that goes straight to the hearts and souls of the audience. For many music lovers, this is their favourite Puccini opera. It has been said that ‘it is a celebration of beauty, a celebration of voices, a feast for the ears’, and I fully agree. It is a great opera. But! There is just one problem, and it is the same all over the world: the casting. Very powerful performers are needed — otherwise it is better not to attempt Manon Lescaut. However, if you have the necessary cast, it would simply be a sin not to perform it. We now have a cast that can sing it.”
Vladimir Galouzine has been invited to take part in the première. The singer, who has exceptional energy and a unique voice, will perform the role of the Chevalier des Grieux. He once joked in an interview, “This production is very rarely staged... just try to find a crazy tenor who would agree to sing it! It is physically very difficult to maintain. Four acts on stage, complicated arias, crazy tessituras, duets... I adore the music, but I am still rather afraid of this role...It is the most difficult of Puccini’s operas.”
According to Mikhail Tatarnikov, the musicians are so fascinated by the work that they cannot talk about it without getting excited. “That’s real music!”, “It’s pure verismo!” “Very often our sessions are punctuated with such emotional outbursts from the performers”, said the conductor about the atmosphere during rehearsals.
