Puccini at the Opera House

Lukács, known internationally as Georgina Lukacs, has starred in productions at La Scala in Milan, the Met in New York, the Staatsoper in Vienna, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the New National Theater in Tokyo, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and the list goes on. She has a commanding presence on stage, but can also be demure, as in the opening scene of Manon Lescaut, which begins with an innocent girl’s encounter with a young student…

Manon Lescaut, by Giacomo Puccini, tells the story of the young Manon, who is being escorted by her brother to a convent on their father’s instructions. During a stop at Amiens, the student Des Grieux is struck by her beauty, falls in love and convinces her to run away with him. It emerges that her brother has arranged for her to go off with a wealthy old treasurer, Geronte. The young couple escape to Paris and the brother and Geronte follow.

Des Grieux’s fortunes fail in Paris, and Manon leaves him for Geronte and a life of luxury. Here we see Lukács’s Manon transformed from an innocent girl in pale blue silk to a bosomy courtesan sitting on her golden four-poster bed draped in red velvet, singing the praises of her many jewels and enjoying the attentions of musicians and her patron, Geronte.

The next scene brings Des Grieux back, and Lukács’s Manon falls in love once again as the passion is reawakened. Geronte discovers them and orders her arrest, but despite Des Grieux’s pleas for speed, Manon dawdles, pawning over her jewels, and she is captured. Lukács effectively juxtaposes the passion and the fickleness warring with each other in Manon.

Des Grieux and Manon’s brother follow her to the prison and the ship where she awaits deportation to America. After a vain attempt to free her, Des Grieux (in the most moving aria of the opera, in my opinion) pours out his dispair. The captain takes pity on him and allows him to sail with them.

In the final act, Des Grieux and Manon are together in America, but are traveling through a desert (as an American, I find this rather confusing, since they docked in New Orleans, miles from any desert). Manon grows weaker, and Des Grieux is unable to find water. So Manon, (very slowly, as she should in such a tragic opera), dies in the arms of her true love.

Manon Lescaut, which premiered in Torino, Italy in 1893 was Puccini’s third opera but his first grand success, ending up much more popular than Massenet’s opera based on the same story, L’histoire du chevalier des Grieuxet de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost.

Some had tried to discourage Puccini from composing another opera about Manon, but he replied, „Why shouldn’t there be two operas about Manon? A woman like Manon can have more than one lover.” He added, „Massenet feels it as a Frenchman, with powder and minuets. I shall feel it as an Italian, with a desperate passion.”

It is this passion that comes through in the Hungarian production – and indeed, many say that Hungary, with its warm climate and wine culture, is a Mediterranean country, with the accompanying dramatic tendencies. Certainly Győngyi Lukács has that passion, and the voice to match.

Manon Lescaut is just one of the Puccini operas on the State Opera House schedule for December, including a Puccini Week that will feature La Boheme, Turandot, Tosca and Madame Butterfly as well. Manon Lescaut will be performed December 6th and 18th.