Sounds of Learning

Manon Lescaut - What Did You Think? Greetings students and teachers. Thank you all again for your great behavior and enthusiastic response to Manon Lescaut yesterday. Thanks, too, to those of you who instinctively tweeted about the opera! We're thrilled that you did so! If you want to remember what the curtain call was like, we filmed it and put it on YouTube . Now's your chance to tell us what you thought about the opera. Write your reviews here! How were the sets and costumes? Did the singers convince you in their parts? What was your favorite part? Was the story believable and why? Don't forget to support your opinions! Please include your first name, school, and your grade in order for your review to be accepted. Just click on the comments link below and post your review. You can select the "anonymous" profile identity to post the review. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts here!

Controlled by Fate: Manon Lescaut’s Story Theme The world of literature and storytelling is often narrowed down to a list of about 12 basic themes , of which the “Controlled by Fate” is on all those lists. Greek tragedies fit into this category. The story theme: There is a force guiding our lives over which we have no control; our lives are pre-determined and unalterable. Stories, like Manon Lescaut , tell how people go to great lengths to alter the outcome—even changing course, trying to back track to undo the mistakes they’ve made. But nothing can be done to alter her tragic destiny. She does everything in her power to block the future disaster. But it’s to no avail. And the opera outcomes are heart wrenching to watch: Tosca throws herself off the castle wall. Butterfly ends her life with a dagger. The Carmelite nuns go to the guillotine. Lucia goes mad, murders her bridegroom, and dies. Aida is entombed with her lover, Radames. Manon enters the opera as a beautiful young woman,...

A “Bad Boy”: Anyone want to marry him?” Giacomo Puccini always seemed to be in trouble! He worried his mother nearly to death. It took him 5 years to complete the usual 4-year elementary school studies. One of his music teachers wrote that he was “…a scamp, lazy, disrespectful, and untalented.” At age 14 he earned money by playing the piano in taverns and the organ at church on Sundays. Once when he needed money, he stole some of the organ pipes and sold them—and then played around the missing pipes, so that no one would know what he did. At age 27 he fell in love with Elvira, a married woman. It was a stormy relationship. He was far from a model ‘husband’ or provider. Elvira went on hunger strikes and often physically attacked him. Over the years he had countless affairs. They had to move frequently because he always fell behind in paying the rent. In 1903 he had two serious auto accidents from driving too fast. After Elvira’s legal husband died, she insisted Puccini marry her. About...