Between Pomp & True Love

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With the revival of Manon, one of the most important story ballets of the 20th century by British choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992) returns to the stage of the Vienna State Opera, where the work celebrated its premiere in 1993, to music by Jules Massenet.

MacMillan was initially a dancer with Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet before he soon began choreographing for this very company - influenced and encouraged by his close friend, the South African-British choreographer John Cranko, a master of narrative ballet, resident choreographer of this ensemble in the 1950s and successful ballet director of the Stuttgart Ballet from 1961. From 1960, works followed for the Royal Ballet London, whose leading choreographer MacMillan became in 1965 and - with an interruption as ballet director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1966-1969) - finally succeeded Frederick Ashton as director of the renowned British company, with which he remained associated until his death.

His first works were one-acts, purely dance-based, but never completely plotless, and ranged from humorous, almost revue-like pieces such as Danses Concertantes to explorations of the human soul, such as Different Drummer on Büchner's Woyzeck theme, to reflections on life and death, such as Das Lied von der Erde to music by Gustav Mahler.

However, MacMillan is best known for his dramatic, full-length story ballets, which are often based on true stories - from Romeo and Juliet (1965) and Anastasia (1971) to Manon (1974) and Mayerling (1978) to the music of Franz Liszt. The work has been part of the repertoire of the Vienna State Ballet since 2008, as it is closely linked to Austria's history surrounding the tragic death of Crown Prince Rudolf and his lover Mary Vetsera. His musical tastes were just as varied, ranging from Schoenberg and Stravinsky to Webern, Shostakovich and Fauré.

For Manon, MacMillan chose music by the French composer Jules Massenet - not from his well-known opera of the same name from 1884, however, but from various of his compositions, including Cendrillon, Don Quichotte, Cléopâtre and Grisélidis. The music was compiled by Leighton Lucas, a former dancer with the Ballets Russes who had become a ballet conductor and film composer, and with the collaboration of Hilda Gaunt, then pianist with the Royal Ballet.

The libretto was based on the Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut published in 1731 by Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles, known simply as Abbé Prévost after his professional title - a largely autobiographical work and the seventh volume of his Mémoires, in which he presumably processed his own experiences, such as his relationship with the "noble courtesan" Lenki Eckhardt.

He describes Manon as follows:

In his version, MacMillan stuck close to the original and movingly tells the story of the young Manon, who according to Prévost is "bewitchingly beautiful", who is to be sent to a convent and meets the student Des Grieux on the way there. The two fall in love at first sight and want to flee to Paris. However, Manon's brother Lescaut has other plans and wants to sell her to a rich bon vivant. The wealthy Monsieur G. M. also expresses his interest and gives her a sumptuous coat and a valuable bracelet. Manon, torn between her love for Des Grieux and the temptations of wealth, allows herself to be blinded by the latter. However, when she meets Des Grieux again at a festival, her affection for him is rekindled. She instigates him to play false and flees with him. However, Monsieur G. M. has her arrested as a prostitute and Lescaut is shot by him. Deported to America, Manon finally dies weakened in the arms of Des Grieux in the swamps of Louisiana.

The world premiere of Manon took place with the Royal Ballet London - a company of which MacMillan was ballet director at the time and for which he wanted to create another major work after Romeo and Juliet and Anastasia in which the ensemble could shine. He created most of the roles for specific dancers who inspired him. For Manon, it was Antoinette Sibley in the title role, Anthony Dowell as Des Grieux and David Wall as Lescaut.

In Manon, MacMillan presents a true study of character and milieu between rich and poor, love and pomp, the precarious division between splendor and decay in pre-revolutionary France, and sets the ballet a little later than Prévost's novel. Figures of the demi-monde stand alongside beggars, thieves and prostitutes. The stage action was visually supported by Nicholas Georgiadis' detailed set, which was replaced by that of Peter Farmer for the Vienna premiere.

MacMillan was quoted as saying that he found his clue to Manon's behavior in her poor background: "Manon is not so much afraid of being poor as ashamed of being poor. Poverty in this period was the equivalent of a long, slow death."

MacMillan therefore demanded not only a high level of technical skill from the dancers - especially in the four central, demanding, almost acrobatic and deeply passionate pas de deux - but also great dramatic artistry.

For countless dancers, the main roles have since been among the most desirable in the ballet repertoire. Both the former ballet director of the Vienna State Ballet Manuel Legris as the interpreter of the role of Des Grieux in the 1999 revival of the work at the Vienna State Opera and the current artistic director Alessandra Ferri as Manon shone in this ballet, albeit the latter not in the Haus am Ring, but in her debut with the Royal Ballet.

For the interpreters of the title role, the question arises as to which character Manon actually represents. Is she the naive, young, innocent girl, the seductive woman or even a prostitute? Is she driven by her emotions, does she act instinctively or calculatingly? Is she a victim of the intrigues, power struggles and vested interests of Lescaut, Monsieur G. M. and the warden? Or has she brought her fate on herself? The interpretation of this role is multi-layered and therefore always exciting and challenging for new generations.

Almost all the dancers of the Vienna State Ballet will make their role debuts in Manon on May 16. Former Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Laura Morera and Benesh choreologist Gregory Mislin, who previously supervised Christopher Wheeldon's The Winter's Tale, are in charge of rehearsals. Numerous different soloist casts can be experienced, coached by ballet director Alessandra Ferri, among others. The musical direction is in the proven hands of Ermanno Florio, who also conducted the last series of this ballet at Haus am Ring in 2013.