Adriana Lecouvreur 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.

The opera premiered at the Teatro Lirico, Milan, on November 6, 1902, with the well-known verismo soprano Angelica Pandolfini in the title role, Enrico Caruso in the role of Maurizio, and the lyric baritone Giuseppe De Luca as Michonnet.

The opera was first performed in the United States by the San Carlo Opera Company on January 5, 1907 at the French Opera House in New Orleans with Tarquinia Tarquini in the title role. It gained its Metropolitan Opera premiere on 18 November 1907 (in a performance starring Lina Cavalieri and Caruso). It had a run of only three performances that season, however, due in large part to Caruso's ill-health. Subsequently, it was revived at the Met from time to time until a new production was commissioned in 1963. That 1963 production continued to be remounted at the same theatre, with differing casts, for the next few decades. It was in the lead role of this opera that the Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo made his Met debut in 1968, alongside Renata Tebaldi in the title role.

Cast:

Adriana Lecouvreur – Renata Tebaldi

Maurizio – Mario del Monaco

La Principessa di Bouillon – Giulietta Simionato

Orchestra and chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia of Rome.

Franco Capuana – conductor

Decca - 1962