Manon & second thoughts

I’ve been enjoying a DVR I made of the Met’s Manon by Massenet with the outstanding young soprano Anna Netrebko as the ill-fated heroine who goes from rambunctious school girl to runaway lover to top courtesan to dying outcast over the course of the opera.

The music is lovely, the singing splendid, the characters well drawn. But as the opera moved toward its poignant close, with Manon now due for deportation as a ‘fallen woman,’ I couldn’t help being irritated.

Manon was in her teens and thoughtless.The men who ‘adored’ her were older, in some cases, old enough to be her grandpa. They live to chase ballet dancers. She dies in disgrace of ‘fallen woman’ disease, an ancestor of the beloved ‘movie star’ disease which has taken off a number of screen lovelies for maximum emotional impact. 

So the Massenet opera is lovely - an irritating. Especially since the double standard that condemned Manon is still alive and well in so much of the world.