Giordano: Andrea Chénier | Del Monaco, Tebaldi, Protti - Capuana (La Scala Live in Tokyo 1961)

Composer: Umberto Giordano
Librettist: Luigi Illica
Premiere: 28 March 1896, Milan (La Scala)
Language: Italian
Subtitles: Italian, English, French, Spanish German(Click on CC to choose the subtitles)
Andrea Chenier Synopsis: https://www.opera-arias.com/giordano/andrea-chenier/synopsis/

Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan. The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet André Chénier (1762–1794), who was executed during the French Revolution. The character Carlo Gérard is partly based on Jean-Lambert Tallien, a leading figure in the Revolution. It remains popular with audiences, though less frequently performed than in the first half of the 20th century.

The NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) Symphony Orchestra
NHK Italian Opera Chorus &
Fujiwara Opera Chorus & Tokyo Choirs
Conductor: Franco Capuana
Live Performance, October 1, 1961
Tokyo Bunka Kaikan

Cast & Characters:
Andrea Chénier - Mario Del Monaco
Maddalena di Coigny - Renata Tebaldi
Carlo Gérard - Aldo Protti
Bersi - Anna di Stasio
The Countess of Coigny / Madelon - Amalia Pini
Majordomo / Roucher / Dumas - Silvano Pagliuca
L'incredibile - Antonio Pirino
Fleville / Mathieu - Arturo La Porta
Fouquier-Tinville / Schmidt - Giorgio Onesti

The work was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 28 March 1896 with Evelina Carrera, Giuseppe Borgatti (who replaced Alfonso Garulli at the eleventh hour) and Mario Sammarco in the leading parts of soprano, tenor and baritone respectively. Rodolfo Ferrari conducted. Giuseppe Borgatti's triumph in the title role at the first performance immediately propelled him to the front rank of Italian opera singers. He went on to become Italy's greatest Wagnerian tenor, rather than a verismo-opera specialist.

Other notable first performances include those in New York City at the Academy of Music on 13 November 1896; in Hamburg on 3 February 1897 under the baton of Gustav Mahler; and in London's Camden Theatre on 16 April 1903 (sung in English).

Apart from Borgatti, famous Chéniers in the period between the opera's premiere and the outbreak of World War II included Francesco Tamagno (who studied the work with Giordano), Bernardo de Muro, Giovanni Zenatello, Giovanni Martinelli, Aureliano Pertile, Francesco Merli, Beniamino Gigli, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi and Antonio Cortis. Enrico Caruso also gave a few performances as Chénier in London in 1907. All of these tenors with the exception of Borgatti have left 78-rpm recordings of one or more of the part's showpiece solos.

Post-war, Franco Corelli, Richard Tucker and Mario Del Monaco were the most famous interpreters of the title role during the 1950s and 1960s, while Plácido Domingo became its foremost interpreter among the next generation of tenors, although Domingo's contemporary Luciano Pavarotti also sang and recorded the work.