Constructing Celebrity at Cours-la-Reine in Massenet’s <i>Manon</i>

Abstract Audiences relish opera for the glittery spectacle and vicarious thrill of seeing characters making bold, forbidden choices. Jules Massenet’s Manon (1884) delivers these indulgences in the tale of a shrewd fifteen-year-old who pursues her ambitions with defiant disregard for social convention. Manon rises to become a celebrity-like figure in act 3 when she commands the adoration of crowds along an outdoor promenade. Yet her audacity proves perilous, ultimately leading to her societal banishment and death. Despite Manon’s enduring place in the operatic canon, the act 3 promenade scene has long faced criticism. Many directors cut it, deeming it nonessential and unrelated to the original novel by Abbé Prévost. This study reveals that the promenade scene is more central to the opera than previously assumed. Introducing new source material, I posit that the scene was inspired by an 1848 essay by Arsène Houssaye about Marie de Camargo, a famed eighteenth-century dancer who was renowned for her unorthodox and athletic choreography. Throughout the promenade scene, Massenet and his collaborators draw deliberate parallels between Manon and Camargo, presenting a complex scene that explores the nature of celebrity. The scene delivers potent messages about feminine ambition and the negotiation of women’s power in public spaces. It also addresses universal questions about fame, interrogating how much agency a person is permitted in the cultivation of their image. Considering the tension between self-promotion and authenticity, the scene grapples with issues that resonate as strongly today as they did in the nineteenth century.