Trivia / Manon

• All-Star Cast: As Manon, Des Grieux, Lescaut, and Comte des Grieux...
  • Audio Recordings:
    • 1937, conducted by Maurice Abranevel (live from the old Metropolitan Opera House, New York): Bidu Sayão, Sydney Rayner, Richard Bonelli, Chase Baromeo.
    • 1955, conducted by Pierre Monteux: Victoria de los Ángeles, Henri Legay, Michel Dens, Jean Borthayre.
    • 1969, conducted by Peter Maag (live from La Scala, Milan; sung in Italian): Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Rolando Panerai, Antonio Zerbini.
    • 1970, conducted by Julius Rudel: Beverly Sills, Nicolai Gedda, Gérard Souzay, Gabriel Bacquier.
    • 1982, conducted by Michel Plasson: Ileana Cotrubas, Alfredo Kraus, Gino Quilico, José van Dam.
    • 1999, conducted by Antonio Pappano: Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Earle Patriarco, José van Dam.
  • Video Recordings:
    • 2001, conducted by Jesús López-Cobos at the Opéra National de Paris: Renée Fleming, Marcelo Álvarez, Jean-Luc Chaignaud, Alain Vernhes.
    • 2007, conducted by Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera: Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Alfredo Daza, Christof Fischesser.
    • 2007, conducted by Victor Pablo Pérez at the Gran Teatre del Liceu: Natalie Dessay, Rolando Villazón, Manuel Lanza, Samuel Ramey.
    • 2019, conducted by Maurizio Benini at the Metropolitan Opera: Lisette Oropesa, Michael Fabiano, Artur Rucinski, Kwangchul Youn.
• Dawson Casting: Manon Lescaut is supposed to be about fifteen or sixteen-years-old, and Chevalier des Grieux is supposed to be around seventeen-years-old. However, due to the title role's vocal demands, it requires a lot of training before a soprano is able to sing it, so most sopranos tend to be well into their adult years by the time they sing the role. Likewise, most tenors who sing Des Grieux are more adult than teenaged.
• Dueling Works: Less than a decade after Massenet's adaptation, Puccini composed his own operatic version titled Manon Lescaut. Unusually for this trope, both have remained quite popular.