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Programme Note

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Cast List:
   THE CHEVALIER DES GRIEUX: Tenor
   THE COUNT DES GRIEUX: Bass
   LESCAUT, Manon's cousin: Baritone
   GUILLOT MORFONTAINE, a nobleman: Tenor
   DE BRÉTIGNY, a tax-collector: Baritone
   INNKEEPER: Baritone
   TWO GUARDSMEN: Tenor, Bass
   PORTER OF THE SEMINARY
   SERGEANT: Tenor
   MANON LESCAUT: Soprano
   POUSSETTE, actress: Soprano
   JAVOTTE, actress: Mezzo-Soprano
   ROSETTE, actress: Mezzo-Soprano
   MAID: Mezzo-Soprano
   Men and Women of Amiens, Post-boys and Porters, Men and Women of Paris, Gamblers, Guards.

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Synopsis:
The Chevalier Des Grieux meets Manon in Amiens. She tells him that her family is sending her to a convent, in order to prevent her love of pleasure leading her into trouble. Des Grieux immediately falls in love with her and persuades her to flee with him to Paris to save her from this fate. Months later, feeling herself unworthy of such a good man as Des Grieux, she runs away with De Brétigny. Des Grieux, devastated, enters the priesthood. Manon rushes to the monastery to beg his forgiveness and he is once again overwhelmed by her seductive charm. The lovers are reunited, but embark on a life of gambling and hedonism that eventually brings about their destruction.