Adriana Lecouvreur
An Opera in 4 Acts
Music by Francesco Cilea ~ Libretto by Arturo Colautti

Setting: Paris, 1730

Famous actress, Adriana Lecouvreur, is adored by her stage manager, Michonnet. But she confides in him that she is in love with Maurizio who says he is an officer in service to the Count of Saxony when his is actually the Count himself. Mauritizio arrives and declares his love for Adriana who gives him a bunch of violets for his lapel as a token of her love. Adriana's professional rival is Duclos, the mistress of Prince of Bouillon. The Prince intercepts a letter written by Duclos requesting a secret meeting with Maurizio at her villa later that night. To expose what he believes is Duclos' deception, the Prince arranges a party that night also to take place at the villa and invites Adriana to come. Maurizio is finally delivered the letter and realizes that Duclos merely wrote the letter on behalf of his former lover, the Princess of Bouillon.

Maurizio meets the Princess who upon seeing the violets on his lapel, accuses him of having another lover. He quickly consoles her by saying that her has brought them for her. As the Prince and Abbé are heard arriving to accuse Maurizio of an affair with Duclos, the Princess hides in the adjoining room. Adriana soon arrives at the party where she and Maurizio reaffirm their love. He asks her to help the woman in the next room escape unnoticed saying she is a political contact only. Adriana agrees. Though the women do not recognize each other in the shuffle of leaving, the women, realize from their brief exchange, that they are rivals for Maurizio love.

Later. A Party at the home of the Prince. When Adriana arrives, the Princess recognizes her voice and an escalating confrontation begins. It ends with Adriana quoting a monologue which denounces sinners and adulterous women which she delivers directly to the Princess.

Believing the Princess has won Maurizio's love, Adriana retires from the stage, deep in depression. Compounding her misery, she receives a box on her birthday mark "from Maurizio". Inside are the dried violets she once gave him which she takes as a sign of rejection. She kisses the violets and throws them on fire just as Maurizio himself bursts in and asks Adriana to marry him. She accepts but suddenly grows pale and faint. Maurizio understands that the Princess sent Adriana the violets after poisoning them, achieving her final revenge. Adriana dies in Maurizio's arms.