8. Manon. The Prodigal Returns. A scene I look back on with especial fondness from my career as a stage director was no great aria or massive ensemble, but a scrap of conversation sung to nothing music to the strains of an offstage orchestra, the kind of thing nobody would bother to include in a disc of excerpts from the show. It comes in the third act of Massenet's Manon, and is simply the heroine casually enquiring of the Count des Grieux what has become of his son, her former lover. I know nothing quite like it in any other opera, so I immediately thought of it when choosing an extended scene for today's class: in this case, almost the entire third act, which strings together a great variety of different textures to create a dramatic roller-coaster beginning with a show-stopper aria and ending with one of the most sensuous (and perverse) duets in opera, as Manon seduces the former lover in the very church where he is about to take the vows of priesthood (illustration above).

I am not sure how much will come across out of context, but if you want an advance glance of the scene in question, there is a video of it here, with English titles; I will explain more in the class itself. There is a brief synopsis of the opera on the Handout. But again I have another terminally cute but winsomely hyper woman (this time American) telling the story at this link. rb.