Manon Lescaut
“Manon is a heroine I believe in and therefore cannot fail to win the hearts of the audience. Why couldn't there be two operas about Manon? A woman like Manon can have more than one lover. Massenet feels her like a Frenchman, with powder and minuets. I will feel it like an Italian, with a desperate passion," declared Puccini determinedly, when his publisher tried to talk him out of composing an opera on a theme that had already been set to music. And he did well, because Manon Lescaut has been one of his great successes since its premiere in Turin in 1893. He kept what he promised and offered his audience passion, despair and hope that overcomes even the tragic end of the main character. After all, love never dies.