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Luigi Illica e il libretto dell’“Andrea Chénier”

2013; Rosenberg & Sellier; Issue: 170 (LVII | II) Linguagem: Inglês

10.4000/studifrancesi.2960

2421-5856

Lionello Sozzi,

History, Culture, and Society

When Luigi Illica writes, in 1896, the libretto for Giordano's opera, Andrea Chénier, he gives the impression of inventing numerous aspects of the story. In fact, he invents nothing. He makes use, on the one hand, of certain poems by Chénier himself and, on the other, of a serialised novel by François-Joseph Méry titled André Chénier that appeared in 1849 and was reprinted numerous times thereafter. Scholars in the field have, until now, neglected to consider what is a strikingly obvious source of the libretto, notwithstanding the modifications that Illica made to Méry's novel.