Manon Lescaut

Manon Lescaut is the fi rst volume of the series 'The operas of Giacomo Puccini - Critical Edition - in collaboration with Archivio storico Ricordi and Fondazione Simonetta Puccini. It makes available the three main versions of the opera that have survived in various sources: an 1893 version, with the original Act I finale, the fi rst version of Manon's Act IV aria, and the uncut version of the fi nal duet in Act IV- a 'midcareer version imagined by Puccini in the fi rst decade of the new century, when he sanctioned the almost complete omission of Manon's Act IV aria- and fi nally the last version that Puccini lived to approve, with Manon's aria restored, albeit with a revised literary text. The volume is introduced by a preface to the Puccini Critical Edition, an historical introduction, a detailed description of the opera's many sources and a lengthy critical commentary which discusses numerous problematic details in the musical text. / Voix Et Piano