About the work
Umberto Giordano's opera in four scenes was premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1896 and is Giordano's most popular work and a key example of Italian verismo. Luigi Illica's libretto dramatises the life of the real French poet André Chénier (1762-94), guillotined as a royalist during the Reign of Terror.
Plot
In a château near Versailles in 1789, the young poet André Chénier is invited to a reception held by the Countess di Coigny. In a famous improvisation („Un dì all'azzurro spazio") he denounces social injustice. The countess's daughter Maddalena is impressed, while her servant Carlo Gérard, secretly in love with Maddalena, swears vengeance. Five years later (1794): Gérard is a powerful official of the Revolution, Chénier in danger because he criticises Robespierre. Maddalena, her family lost, seeks Chénier out and they confess their love. Gérard, pressed by the chief of police, writes a denunciation of Chénier but has moral scruples. At the tribunal he tries — too late — to prove Chénier's innocence. Maddalena offers Gérard her body if he will save Chénier. Gérard is moved and helps her — but cannot prevent Chénier from being condemned to death. In prison Maddalena exchanges identity with another condemned woman and dies with Chénier on the guillotine.
Cultural significance
Andrea Chénier is, after „Cavalleria rusticana" and „Pagliacci", the most important verismo work and contains in „Un dì all'azzurro spazio", „Nemico della patria?!" and „La mamma morta" some of the most famous tenor and baritone arias of the repertoire. „La mamma morta" became known to new generations through Tom Hanks's film „Philadelphia" (1993), where Maria Callas's recording is centrally used. The role of Chénier is one of the most dramatic tenor parts in Italian opera, shaped by Beniamino Gigli and Mario Del Monaco through to Plácido Domingo and Jonas Kaufmann.