Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

Manon Lescaut: Intermezzo from Act III

When opera first became popular in early 17th-century Italy, composers typically wrote about grand figures from mythology or history, often retelling stories through music that audiences would have been familiar with. Later in the 18th-century, some operas began to reflect everyday life more closely; Susanna, a maid, is arguably the main character in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. This trend continued in the 19th-century with the emergence of ‘verismo’ (Italian for realism) operas, which told stories rooted in real life, albeit often in exceptionally dramatic fashion.

DURATION 4 minutes

YEAR OF COMPOSITION 1893

Puccini was arguably the leading exponent of this genre. His opera Manon Lescaut, from which this intermezzo is taken, has all the hallmarks of a classic verismo opera: morally dubious characters, doomed romances, crime, and tragedy.

THE WORLD IN 1893...

New Zealand becomes the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Thomas Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio in West Orange, New Jersey.

This intermezzo is performed between the second and third acts of the opera as the title character, Manon, is being taken to jail. Its dark and mysterious opening, played by the lower strings, gives way to impassioned melodies as Manon thinks of her first love.

The score is marked with many Italian expressions - con espressione, sostenendo, expressivo - to encourage the players to portray the depths of Manon’s emotions at this point in the opera and to shape the long melodic lines with beautiful phrasing.

By Jack Johnson (© NYOS, 2022)

Key Of Terminology

Intermezzo – a short piece of music that is performed between two major sections of a bigger work such as an opera.

Further Listening

Mascagni – Intermezzo from ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’

One of the most popular operatic intermezzos, like Puccini’s built around expansive and lyrical melodic lines.