Francesco Cilea's name is inextricably linked to his most famous and most represented work: Adriana Lecouvreur. Fourth of the five operas he composed, Adriana Lecouvreur made her debut on November 6, 1902 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan with an exceptional cast, where alongside the protagonist Angelica Pandolfini the name of Enrico Caruso stood out in the role of the Conte di Sassonia. The subject is taken from the play of the same name by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé and tells the story of the famous tragic actress Adrienne Lecouvreur, the undisputed star of the Comédie-Française for over a decade, who died under mysterious circumstances, probably poisoned by a rival in love.

For Cilea there are all the elements of certain dramatic effectiveness that can be developed in music, from the passionate story involving Adriana, Maurizio and the princess of Bouillon (Adriana's rival), to the setting in the gallant eighteenth century, painted with grace and levity according to the French model, up to the expedient of the theater within the theater, which allows the protagonist to pass from the recited comedy to the concrete passion in the continuous alternation of reality and fiction.

With the collaboration of Naxos