Adriana Lecouvreur, Opéra En 4 Actes / Music by Francesco Cilea (1866-1950) / Orchestra, Choir and Ballet of La Scala in Milan / Conductor: Gianandrea Gavazzeni / DVD

Format: PAL

Run time: 157 Minutes

UPC: 9120005650510

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Yes
• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches; 3.21 Ounces
• Release date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2017
• Actors ‏ : ‎ VARIOUS ARTISTS
• Studio ‏ : ‎ VIDEO LAND
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Adriana Lecouvreur (Italian pronunciation: [adriˈaːna lekuˈvrør, -ɛr]) is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the 1849 play Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. It was first performed on 6 November 1902 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan.

The same play by Scribe and Legouvé which served as a basis for Cilea's librettist was also used by at least three different librettists for operas carrying exactly the same name, Adriana Lecouvreur, and created by three different composers. The first was an opera in three acts by Tomaso Benvenuti (premiered in Milan in 1857). The next two were lyric dramas in 4 acts by Edoardo Vera (to a libretto by Achille de Lauzières) which premiered in Lisbon in 1858, and by Ettore Perosio (to a libretto by his father), premiered in Genoa in 1889. After Cilea created his own Adriana, however, none of those by others were performed anymore and they remain largely unknown today.

The opera is based on the life of the French actress Adrienne Lecouvreur (1692–1730). While there are some actual historical figures in the opera, the episode it recounts is largely fictional; its death-by-poisoned-violets plot device is often signalled as verismo opera's least realistic. It is often condemned as being among the most confusing texts ever written for the stage, and cuts that have often been made in performance only make the story harder to follow. The running time of a typical modern performance is about 135 minutes (excluding intervals).