Boulevard Solitude is a Lyrisches Drama (lyric drama) or opera in one act by Hans Werner Henze to a German libretto by Grete Weil after the play by Walter Jockisch, in its turn a modern retelling of Abbé Prévost's 1731 novel Manon Lescaut.

Although it never became part of the core operatic repertoire, Boulevard Solitude continued to receive performances after the premiere.

It was given in both Naples and Rome in 1954 and it received its UK premiere in London by the New Opera Company at Sadler's Wells in 1962 where the cast included Peter Glossop and April Cantelo.

The opera continues to be performed and is popular with audiences, with a London revival in 2001 going on to sell heavily despite much negative critical reception and attacks from the tabloid press.

[3] The student Armand des Grieux meets a young woman by the name of Manon Lescaut, who is being brought to boarding school in Lausanne by her brother.

Armand has been cut off by his father on account of his dissolute lifestyle, and is forced to ask his friend Francis for money.

Armand cuts a picture out of its frame in order to sell it, but is discovered by a servant who reports the incident to Lilaque Sr. who calls the police.