Andrea Chénier

Libretto by Luigi Illica
In Italian with German surtitles

Theater am Domhof
Premiere: January 23, 2027

1789: The French Revolution bursts into the aristocratic pastoral revelries of the Countess de Coigny and destroys the old world in a single stroke. For idealists such as the poet Andrea Chénier and the aristocrat Maddalena, the era now dawning becomes a struggle for survival. Helplessly at the mercy of the machinations of the Jacobin Terror and madly in love with one another, Maddalena voluntarily follows her beloved Andrea Chénier to his death after his conviction. “Viva la morte insiem!”—“Long live our shared death!”

Inspired by a stirring libretto full of historical details and characters driven by extreme passion, Umberto Giordano created with his 1896 opera an overwhelming historical tableau, a panorama of the French Revolution. With a keen sense for dramatic scenes, he convincingly interwove the passionate love story with the historical events and, through an abundance of magnificent arias and duets, created a truly great evening of Italian opera.