Dramma lirico in quattro atti-Manon Lescaut is the fi rst volume of the series The operas of Giacomo Puccini - Critical Edition - in collaboration with Archivio storico Ricordi and Fondazione Simonetta Puccini. It makes available the three main versions of the opera thathave survived in various sources: an 1893 version with the original Act I finale the fi rst version of Manon s Act IV aria and the uncut version of the fi nal duet in Act IV; a midcareer version imagined by Puccini in the fi rst decade of thenew century when he sanctioned the almost complete omission of Manon s Act IV aria; and fi nally the last version that Puccini lived to approve with Manon saria restored albeit with a revised literary text. The volume is introduced by a preface to the Puccini Critical Edition an historical introduction a detailed description of the opera s many sources and a lengthy critical commentary whichdiscusses numerous problematic details in the musical text.
