Boulevard Solitude

First scene, a station concourse in a French town: Manon Lescaut, on her way to a boarding school accompanied by her brother Lescaut, makes acquaintance with the student Armand who persuades her to go with him · 2nd scene, a room in a garret in Paris: Manon is living contentedly with Armand, but allows herself to be paired off by Lescaut with the wealthy Lilaque père. · 3rd scene, Monsieur Lilaque’s elegant boudoir: Lilaque catches Lescaut in the process of stealing and banishes him and Manon from his house. · 4th scene, the university library: Manon encounters Armand once more; despite his disappointment at her faithlessness, he wishes them both to live together once more. · 5th scene, a shady tavern: Armand succumbs to the influence of drugs; Lescaut pairs off Manon once again, this time with Lilaque fils. · 6th scene, Lilaque fils’ dressing room and bedroom: Lilaque père takes Manon und Armand by surprise; Manon shoots Lilaque. · 7th scene, at the entrance to the prison: Armand waits for Manon, but she walks past without acknowledging him. Henze’s first full-length opera is characterised by a cool and analytical structure shaped by epic theatre and film consisting of episodic interlinked scenes interspersed by symphonic interludes and represents a radical renunciation of the sensual emotional ardour of earlier settings of this plot (Auber, Massenet and Puccini). The Symphonic interludes have been incorporated into the concert repertoire of numerous orchestras as an independent work (see p. 96) 

"Numerous facets of ballet can be observed in Boulevard Solitude and it could even be suggested that the work is intrinsically a ballet, except for the fact that the soloists are singers and not dancers. All supporting roles are danced and the chorus is banished to the orchestra pit. The selection of the Manon story, its overall form which was created in collaboration with Walter Jokisch and Grete Weil and ultimately the categorisation of the work as a “lyrical drama” all reveal that my primary focus was chiefly directed at the representation of extremely tender erotic situations which are however for the most part also desperate situations; I was unable to harness either extremes of seriousness or cheerfulness: seriousness transformed itself into grief and hilarity into satire or parody. Nevertheless, a particular effect evolved, a certain charm and specific atmosphere, perhaps precisely due to this single-track approach.!