Adriana Lecouvreur
| Work data | |
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| Title: | Adriana Lecouvreur |
First performance poster, 1902 |
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| Shape: | Opera in four acts |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Francesco Cilea |
| Libretto : | Arturo Colautti |
| Literary source: | Drama Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe |
| Premiere: | November 6, 1902 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatro Lirico, Milan |
| Playing time: | 2 hours, 30 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | Paris, March 1730 |
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Adriana Lecouvreur is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea . Arturo Colautti wrote the text based on a play by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé . The first performance took place on November 6, 1902 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan .
action
1st act
The star of the Comédie-Française , the actress Adriana Lecouvreur, loves Count Maurizio. Her rival in this love is the Princess de Bouillon. Her husband, the Prince of Bouillon, intercepted a letter from the Princess to Maurizio. He takes his mistress, the actress Duclos, to be the sender, decides to convict the couple and forwards the letter to the count.
2nd act
At the rendezvous for a party in the Duclos villa, the princess notices that she has lost Maurizio's love to someone else. The prince arrives, soon after Adriana. Maurizio hides from the prince and asks Adriana to allow the princess to escape from her husband. Out of love for him, she agrees.
3rd act
The princess makes sure who her rival is. She tells Adriana that Maurizio was wounded in a duel. The princess can see her love for the count from Adriana's reaction. Adriana takes revenge for this ruse by emphasizing the last lines of a monologue from Phèdre von Racine so that she accuses the depraved morality of the princes.
4th act
Adriana waits in vain for Maurizio on her birthday. Among her presents is a box with a bouquet of violets. Adriana, who thinks the flowers are a parting present from her lover, inhales their scent. In truth, however, the Princess of Bouillon is the sender who drizzled the flowers with a deadly poison. When Maurizio finally appears, Adriana dies in his arms.
backgrounds
The title character is a historical person. Adrienne Lecouvreur was considered the most important actress in France in her time. She actually had an affair with Moritz von Sachsen . Its relationship with the Duchesse de Bouillon is also documented. After Adrienne Lecouvreur's death, rumors circulated that she had been poisoned.
A hundred years later, her life formed the basis for a play by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. The title role in this piece was played by Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse , among others .
In the Milan premiere of Cilea's opera, Angelica Pandolfini sang Adriana, Enrico Caruso sang Maurizio. The German-language premiere took place on November 15, 1903 in Hamburg. One of the most important singers in the title role was the soprano Magda Olivero (1910-2014) , who was highly valued by Cilea .
Complete studio recordings
- 1949 with Mafalda Favero, Nicola Filacuridi, Orchestra del Teatro alle Scala di Milano, Federico del Cupolo (RCA)
- 1950 with Carla Gavazzi, Giacinto Prandelli, Orchestra Sinfonico di Torino della RAI, Alfredo Simonetto (Cetra)
- 1961 with Renata Tebaldi , Mario del Monaco , Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Roma, Franco Capauna (Decca)
- 1977 with Renata Scotto , Plácido Domingo , Philharmonia Orchestra London, James Levine (CBS)
- 1985 with Raina Kabaivanska , Alberto Cupido, Bulgarian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Maurizio Arena (RCA)
- 1988 with Joan Sutherland , Carlo Bergonzi , Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Richard Bonynge (Decca)
Translations
- Adriana Lecouvreur. Dramatic play by E. Scribe and E. Legouvé in four acts for the opera stage, arranged by A. Colautti . Music by Francesco Cilèa . German translation by Walter Dahms . Casa Musicala Sonzogno, Milano 1938
swell
- Reclam's opera guide
- Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater
- Karsten Steiger: Operas - A directory of all recordings, Ullstein Verlag