Adriana Lecouvreur

About

Three other operas of the same name were written by three different composer/librettist teams before this version was born at the hands of Francesco Cilea and librettist Arturo Colautti. It premiered in Milan on November 6, 1902, and since then has been the only known Adriana Lecouvreur, the others fading into the background of Cilea's work. The piece is generally described as verismo, a movement similar to the French 'naturalism' without a sense of positivity, an Italian literary and operatic movement of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Based on the French actress Adrienne Lecouvreur (1692-1730), the opera is often described as confusing, especially due to the removal of some scenes for time's sake, yet the protagonist, her fictionalized tale and the great music are more than enough to capture the audience.