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.

Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. His best-known work in that genre was Andrea Chénier (1896).