Manon Lescaut is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1889 and 1892 to a libretto by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva, based on the 1731 novel Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. The opera was first performed in 1893 in Turin, at the Teatro Regio.
Postcard commemorating the premiere
Advertisement for libretto, 1917
Manon's costume for act 2 designed by Adolfo Hohenstein for the world premiere
Set design for act 2 by Ugo Gheduzzi [it] for the world premiere performance
Giacomo Puccini was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents.
Giacomo Puccini: photograph of uncertain date.
Puccini's birthplace during restoration work
Original poster for Puccini's Tosca
Puccini photographed in 1908