André Marie Chénier was a French poet of Greek and Franco-Levantine origin, associated with the events of the French Revolution, during which he was sentenced to death. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement. His career was brought to an abrupt end when he was guillotined for supposed "crimes against the state". Chénier's life has been the subject of Umberto Giordano's opera Andrea Chénier and other works of art.
Portrait during his last captivity by Suvée
Bust of André Chénier by David d'Angers (1839).
Appeal of the last victims of terror in the prison of St. Lazarus, 7, 9 Thermidor 1794. Chénier appears seated at the foreground's center. Painting by Charles Louis Müller, (Musée de la Révolution française).
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. His best-known work in that genre was Andrea Chénier (1896).
Umberto Giordano (1896) by Gaetano Esposito
Umberto Giordano, 1905