Manon Lescaut – Donna non vidi mai (Jonas Kaufmann, The Royal Opera)

Royal Opera House Published on Aug 21, 2015
Jonas Kaufmann as Des Grieux sings ‘Donna non vidi mai’ from Act I of Jonathan Kent’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, The Royal Opera, 2014.

Puccini’s publisher tried to prevent him from adapting Abbé Prévost’s L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut – Massenet had already created a highly successful opera based on the novel. Fa Puccini dia tsy mba niova hevitra mihitsy, claiming ‘a woman like Manon can have more than one lover’. Na dia eo aza ny olana vohoka (librettists dimy no anjara tao amin'ny tetikasa), ny première ny Manon Lescaut in 1893 was Puccini’s first major triumph – a hit with critics and the public alike.