A night at the opera … in Madrid

While in Madrid last month, I also made time for an opera performance.

The Madrid opera was playing Giaccomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, and I got tickets to see it. My hotel in Puerta del Sol was less than a ten-minute walk from the opera house, making it quite easy to reach after a hectic day exploring Segovia.

I also enjoyed its location directly across from the royal palace. I don’t know if the royal family are opera fans, but it’s certainly an easy “commute” for them to attend.

It was my first time at the Madrid opera house, which is very beautiful, but has quite a few seats with limited visibility … including mine!

The Teatro Real was initiated in 1818, commissioned by King Ferdinand VII, and undertaken by the architect Antonio Lopez Aguado. But decades of building delays meant the opera was only inaugurated in 1850, by Queen Isabella II.

The Teatro Real rapidly grew the late 1800s, and hosted numerous opera performances, singers and directors. Italian opera dominated, with works of   Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, and Verdi shown on the Madrid stage. In 1863, Giuseppe Verdi himself visited the Madrid opera.

The performance was wonderful and I enjoyed the intermission with Spanish cava.

I hadn’t seen Manon Lescaut in years, but enjoyed the performance. But I will never, ever get over the ending where Manon and her lover are banished to Louisiana – where they die a miserable death out in the desert, “senza una goccia d’acqua” (without a drop of water).  I truly have to bite my lip as those lines are being sung. Geography matters! : )

But still a wonderful performance. Greatly enjoyed by first opera at Madrid’s Teatro Real!

Celebrating with Spanish cava.