Cultured Europeans were fascinated by the 1731 tale of Manon Lescaut, created by the writer Antoine-François (Abbé) Prévost in his novel, "L'Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut." This story of passion, betrayal and death inspired two operas by major composers: Jules Massenet, who composed "Manon," and Giacomo Puccini, who wrote "Manon Lescaut."

The Massenet "Manon" first brought American diva Carol Vaness to Seattle in 1985, the year after the young soprano's Metropolitan Opera debut catapulted her to international fame. Since then, Vaness has returned to Seattle to sing leading roles in Donizetti's "Anna Bolena," Puccini's "Tosca," and four Verdi operas: "La Traviata," "Il Trovatore," "Otello" and "Un Ballo in Maschera."

Now, it is another Manon — Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" — that brings her back to this city for her debut in that role.

She has had plenty of time to study the inner workings of that character, whom Vaness didn't initially like very much.

Coming up Puccini's "Manon Lescaut," with Carol Vaness in the title role and Antonello Allemandi conducting, opens Saturday in McCaw Hall. Evening performances start at 7:30 p.m. (on Saturday and on Jan. 19, 21, 22, 26, 28 and 29); the Jan. 16 matinee begins at 2 p.m. The alternate cast, which sings Jan. 16, 21 and 28, features Victoria Litherland in the title role. Alternating in the role of the Chevalier des Grieux, Manon's lover, will be Jay Hunter Morris and Ted Lee. Tickets are $40-$123 (206-389-7676 or www.seattleopera.org).

"She lives in every moment," says Vaness over a quick rehearsal-break lunch of salad and iced tea. The soprano, tall and formerly statuesque, lost a considerable number of kilos a few years back, a loss she has maintained through careful diet and lots of exercise. She's one of the opera world's few enduring success stories on the weight-loss front.

"There is nothing calculated about Manon. She is human, very feminine, never bitchy. And Bernard has helped me to love her."

Bernard Uzan, the production's stage director, showed Vaness how to see through the character's eyes.

"You have to think like a young person," she explains, "a person who doesn't really understand the deep steps she has taken." In the story, Manon escapes a wealthy but elderly suitor and elopes with a passionate young man she encounters by chance. "She is impulsive and she's also afraid of being on her own. There's so much fear in her. And at the end, she says she's sorry for all her wrongs, and that her love will never die. This really redeems the character."

"Manon Lescaut" for beginners The story: Manon Lescaut, a young girl traveling to a convent with her brother, spurns a rich and elderly lover promoted by her brother in favor of the dashing young Chevalier des Grieux, whom she encounters by chance. Later, betrayed by the spurned man, she is sentenced to exile in colonial America. Des Grieux joins her there, and she dies in his arms. To read the original Prévost story on which "Manon Lescaut" was based: visit encyclopediaindex.com /b/lesco10.htm. Recommended recordings: Dame Kiri te Kanawa and José Carreras, with Riccardo Chailly conducting (1988), Decca. And Montserrat Caballé and Placido Domingo, with Bruno Bartoletti conducting (1972), EMI Classics.

Vaness also has been helped by her own boyfriend, a psychologist who discusses her various operatic roles and probes the characters' motivation. Since her last trip to Seattle, the soprano has had more time than usual to dissect her roles: A year ago, she underwent back surgery and had a lengthy period of forced inactivity.

What happened?

"Well, a baritone fell on me in 'Tosca,' " explains Vaness. There's a scene in that opera where the baritone, the evil Scarpia, is forcing his attentions on Tosca, and she ends up killing him. This time, the baritone almost killed her.

"I was lying on top of an uneven painting on the set, and the baritone lost his balance and fell right on me, and I heard this little sound from my back and thought, 'Oh-oh.' "

Somehow Vaness got through the rest of the performance, but later underwent surgery on a burst disc. Now she has titanium screws in her vertebrae and occasionally sets off the metal-detection alarms at airports. After a couple of months of rehab, however, Vaness says there's only a small list of activities she can't do.

"I still have to be a little careful: no Stairmaster or anything that puts torque on my lower back. But you'll never notice when you see me onstage. I've done five or six productions since then; I jump, I twist, I fall. And I'm still very busy learning new roles: the Marschallin (in Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier"), "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" (by Shostakovich) and "Fanciulla" (Puccini's "Girl of the Golden West")."

CHRISTIAN STEINER Carol Vaness

Vaness is in steady demand among European opera houses, including those of Covent Garden (London), Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Vienna State Opera, and Paris Opéra-Bastille, among many others. And she is about to get busier. She has just joined the music faculty at the University of Washington, where she will work with voice students on a schedule adapted to her operatic commitments.

"We'll just see how it goes," says Vaness, who has already presented UW master classes and says she "just loves" the students.

This is not the imperious diva who will send young fledgling singers out of the studio in tears.

"I don't have a big crazy diva attitude," says Vaness.

"I'm actually pretty normal for a soprano! But I'm really, really dedicated to music. That's why I didn't have children: I can't do anything half-assed. My natural instinct is to give 180 percent, but then you've spent it all, and I need to save myself."

Vaness, down-to-earth and realistic, has a very clear vision of how the voice operates, but also of the person who owns the voice. (She was the keynote speaker last year for the Classical Singer Convention; to read her remarks on vocal production and related matters, go online to www.seattleopera.org/operas/2004-2005/manon/articles.aspx.)

Taking on the role of Puccini's Manon Lescaut for the first time has made Vaness very analytical about the new demands she will face in this role.

"The role lies very low, and there's a big Puccini orchestra, so it can be a problem for sopranos to be heard," she explains.

"You need a lot of warmth in the middle voice, but there also are four high Cs. That's not a problem for me. But I do have to beware of giving too heavily in Act II, where the role is especially low and the orchestra is especially thick. Now, in the rehearsal process, everything is becoming clearer as we search out things about the music and the character."

Now 52, Vaness has been sought by many universities, but she said yes to the UW because of her previous positive experiences here — and also because, as a West Coast gal (born in San Diego) who recently moved back to the Los Angeles area, she has a real feeling for the need for top-flight instruction on the left-hand side of the country.

"I think about what I can help build here," she says of the teaching opportunity.

"We'll work out what is best for the students; I'm flying around all the time anyway, so I can always fly here. And while I am very busy now, I know it [the opera career] will not last forever: now it's all about the 20-year-olds.

"I was always lucky. All my life, I've just tried to get better — the next performance, the next act, the next aria, all just a little bit better. I want to give people something outside the banality of everyday life. And it lifts me up, too."

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com