ANDRÉ CHÉNIER
"André Chénier" was produced at La Scala, Milan, March 23, 1896. It was given in London, in English, April 26, 1903. Long before that, November 13, 1896, New York heard it at the Academy of Music, under Mapleson. It had a single performance, under the management of Oscar Hammerstein, at the Manhattan Opera House in 1908, and eight years later was given by, and endured through the season of, the Boston-National Opera Company, both in Boston and on tour.
Historical as a character though André Chénier be, Giordano's librettist, Luigi Illica, has turned his life into fiction. Chénier was a poet, dreamer, and patriot. Born at Constantinople, he went to Paris for his education. Later he became a participant in and victim of the French Revolution.
Characters
| André Chénier | Tenor |
| Charles Gérard | Baritone |
| Countess de Coigny | Soprano |
| Madeleine, her daughter | Soprano |
| Bersi, her maid | Mezzo-Soprano |
| Roucher | Bass |
| Mathieu | Baritone |
| Madelon | Soprano |
| Fléville | Tenor |
| The Abbé | Tenor |
| Schmidt, jailer at St. Lazare | Bass |
| A Spy | Tenor |
Guests at ball, servants, pages, peasants, soldiers of the Republic, masqueraders, judges, jurymen, prisoners, mob, etc.
Time—Just prior to and during the French Revolution.
Place—Paris.
Act I. Ballroom in a château. Gérard, a servant, but also a revolutionist, is secretly in love with Madeleine, the Countess's daughter. Among the guests at a ball is André Chénier, a poet with revolutionary tendencies. Madeleine asks him to improvise a poem on love. Instead, he sings of the wrongs of the poor. Gérard appears with a crowd of ragged men and women, but at the Countess's command servants force the intruders out. Chénier and Madeleine, the latter weary of the routine of fashion, have been attracted to each other.
Act II. Café Hottot in Paris, several years later. Chénier has offended the Revolutionists by denouncing Robespierre. A spy is watching Bersi, Madeleine's old nurse, and sees her hand Chénier a letter. It is from Madeleine. She loves him. She is dogged by spies, begs him come to her aid, and arranges a meeting.