ANDREA CHENIER, an opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano; libretto by Luigi Illica; first performance, Milan, 28 March 18%; in New York, 13 Nov. 1896. The scene is laid in Paris during the French Revolution, and the story is woven around a real person, a poet and patriot named Andrea Chenier, born in Constantinople, who was studying in Paris when the revolution broke out. He was guillotined 25 July 1794. The first scene reveals the hall in the castle of the Countess de Coigny (whose daughter, Madeleine, is the heroine of the piece). Among the servants, who are mak ing preparations for a grand hall, is one Gerard, who afterward becomes the leader of the revo lution. Chenier, the poet, arrives with the guests, and is requested by Madeleine to im provise a song of love. Instead, however, the poet improvises a violent diatribe against the aristocracy, which naturally displeases the haughty guests. Gerard leads in a crowd of poor, starving people, who look very much out of place amid the gorgeous surroundings. Gerard and the crowd are ordered out, and Chenier exhibits his sympathy by following them. Five years have elapsed between the first and second acts. The latter opens with a café near the Seine. Andrea is seated outside at a table; at another table sit a spy and Madeleine's maid, Bersi. Roucher, a friend,
warns Chenier that he is in danger and gives him a pass that will carry him to safety. Bersi, the maid, tells Chenicr to wait for a lady, who turns out to be the fair Madeleine. She be seeches Chenier to save her from the dreaded power of Gerard, who suddenly appears and attempts to seize the girl. Roucher intervenes and escorts the girl away, leaving Gerard and Chenier to fight a duel, in which Gerard is wounded. Gerard gallantly warns his rival that he is proscribed and implores him to save Madeleine. Chenier hurries away and Gerard disclaims any knowledge of the man who had struck him down. In the third scene, the Tribunal, Gerard is told of Chcnier's arrest and is urged to denounce him, which he reluctantly does by signing the warrant. Madeleine offers her own life to save that of Chenier, and Gerard relents. But ii is too late; he has signed the paper and Chenier is sentenced to death. Act IV. Chenier is writing verses in his cell, which Madeleine enters through bribing the jailer. Gerard makes a final but ineffective appeal to Robespierre, and in the morning the two lovers go to the guillotine together.