Manon Lescaut

Giacomo Puccini
Vladimir Galouzine (Des Grieux)
Katrina Mattila (Manon Lescaut)

ACT I
Beautiful Manon, who is on the way to a convent, flees with Des Grieux, who falls in love with her at the first glance. Manon, beautiful but sad, is irresolute, but to escape from an abduct planned by an old rich man, she has no other choice than leaving with Des Grieux. The orchestra overwhelms arias and I am thinking how much I paied for this.

ACT II
Manon enjoys the luxury in the palace of the old rich man in Paris. This advent was only insinuated by her brother in the end of Act I. He told the old rich man that Manon who envies the wealth would come back to him. What would be more interesting to me is why Manon, who was seemingly distressed--remember that she was on the way to a convent--and also loved Des Grieux so much, left him. Amid the jewelry, she now misses the kisses from Des Grieux. Stupidity and vanity! By her brother's help, Manon meets Des Grieux in secret. From this moment, the opera goes on basically by those two. Galouzine has an amazingly expressive voice. Mattila has rather a weak voice, but bursts out in high tones. Des Grieux asks Manon to leave with him again, but Manon's reluctance to leaving behind the jewelry finally makes her be arrested. Manon's own word describing her vacillation between love and luxury: "How bittersweet, this pain."

ACT III and IV
Deserted in a plain in Lousiana, America, Manon slowly dies. Des Grieux, who followed her destiny, cries out.

The music is rather gloomy sometimes, but beautiful. But a more beautiful thing is Galouzine's confident, expressive, and compelling voice. On the other hand, I don't care for the narrative. That's why the literature has its own merit to explore the humanities among other art forms.

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