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A quick overview of Giordano’s 1896 biographical opera set during the French Revolution.

Premiered

1896

Music by

Umberto Giordano

Libretto by

Luigi Illica

Language

Italian

Inspired by the life of the French poet André Chénier, Illica’s libretto came into Giordano’s possession in 1894 via Alberto Franchetti, for whom it was written. Giordano completed the opera in November 1895. Despite its endorsement by Mascagni, Giordano’s opera was accepted for performance at La Scala with some hesitation.

Yet, Andrea Chénier proved to be the only highlight of an otherwise disastrous 1895-96 season in Milan under the management of Sonzogno, who refused to mount any works belonging to his rival, Ricordi. An instant success, Andrea Chénier soon raised Giordano to the highest ranks of Italian opera composers, along with Mascagni, Puccini, and Leoncavallo.

Act I

Preparations are at hand for a party at the Château Coigny. Gérard, a servant to the Countess, views the proceedings with disgust, ridiculing the aristocracy and lamenting the suffering of all servants under their arrogant masters. The Countess enters with Maddalena and her maid, Bersi.

While the Countess gives orders to the servants, Maddalena and Bersi discuss current fashions. The guests begin to arrive. Among them is Fléville, a novelist, who brings with him the rising poet Andrea Chénier. After the Abbé tells the latest terrible news from Paris, good spirits slowly return to the party as Fléville performs a specially-written madrigal.

Maddalena and her friends then tease the shy Chénier out of his silence into improvising a poem. Chénier shocks the party guests by criticizing the clergy and the aristocracy for their indifference toward the suffering of the impoverished. The Countess offers her apologies for the poet’s fancy and orders a gavotte. But the dance is interrupted by Gérard, who brings in a crowd of starving peasants.

The scandalized Countess, faint with shock, orders Gérard out with the rabble, quite sure that she had always been a generous benefactor. The guests quickly leave, and the Countess remains alone.

Act II

Three years later, France is in the throes of the bloody aftermath of the Revolution. At the Café Hottot, Chénier sits at a table alone, away from a table full of revolutionaries. Nearby, newsboys announce the arrest of the King. Bersi enters, closely followed by an Incroyable, whom she suspects of spying on her as an enemy of the Revolution. Bersi pretends to be a daughter of the Revolution, joining in the cheers and strains of “Ah, ça ira” as a cartload of condemned prisoners passes.

Unfooled, the Incroyable has seen her looking at Chénier waiting in the café. Roucher arrives with a passport for Chénier to guarantee him safe passage out of the country. Chénier, however, insists that his destiny lies with the anonymous woman who has been writing him letters signed “Hope.” A crowd gathers to watch a parade of the People’s Representatives. Noticing Gérard in the procession, the Incroyable takes him aside and queries him about the woman for whom he is looking.

Gérard describes Maddalena to him. In the meantime, Bersi finds Chénier and urges him to wait for someone who wants to meet him. Maddalena appears and reveals herself as the source of the letters, begging for Chénier’s protection. They vow to love one another until death.

The Incroyable, having seen Chénier and Maddalena together, summons Gérard. Though Gérard is severely wounded as Chénier defends Maddalena, he soon recognizes Chénier and tells him to save himself and protect Maddalena. When the gathering crowd asks Gérard the identity of his assailant, he professes ignorance.

Act III

In the hall of the Revolutionary tribunal, Mathieu warns the assembled audience that France is in grave danger, menaced by internal rebellion and external invasion. Gérard, recovered from his injury, enters and calls on the people to give their sons and wealth to the cause of the nation. Madelon, an old woman who has already lost her son and grandson, comes forward to offer her other grandson as a soldier.

As the crowd disperses, the Incroyable enters and advises Gérard that if he wants Maddalena, he must first arrest Chénier. As Gérard pens the accusation, he reflects with remorse at the bloodshed he has caused by being enslaved to his own passions. Maddalena is brought before him. She offers herself to Gérard if he saves Chénier. She has been a fugitive, her mother killed and their castle destroyed in the Revolution.

Moved by her love for Chénier, Gérard promises to try to save him. The tribunal assembles with an angry mob in attendance. Chénier defends himself as a patriot, and Gérard admits that the accusation he wrote was false. The tribunal is shocked by this revelation but nonetheless resolves to execute Chénier.

Act IV

In the courtyard of the Saint Lazare prison, Chénier reads a final poem to his friend Roucher, who has come to say his farewell. The jailer, Schmidt, meets Gérard and Maddalena. She bribes the jailer to permit her to take the place of another woman sentenced to death. Gérard departs in order to make a final plea for Chénier’s life. As the day dawns, Maddalena and Chénier share a last moment together before being taken to the guillotine.

Listen to the Story

Joaquín Sigüenza Chavarrieta (1825-1902), Andrea Chénier trial, 1851.

Presented by Washington National Opera, host Saul Lilienstein takes you through the musical world of Giordano’s 1896 biographical opera set during the French Revolution, Andrea Chénier.

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