[4] It is often condemned as being among the most confusing texts ever written for the stage, and cuts that have often been made in performance only make the story harder to follow.

[citation needed] The running time of a typical modern performance is about 135 minutes (excluding intervals).

It gained its Metropolitan Opera premiere on 18 November 1907 (in a performance starring Lina Cavalieri and Caruso).

It was in the lead role of this opera that the Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo made his Met debut in 1968,[7] alongside Renata Tebaldi.

[8] The title role in Adriana Lecouvreur has always been a favorite of sopranos with large voices, which tend to sit less at the very top of their range.

[citation needed] The part has a relatively low tessitura, going no higher than Bb, and only a few times at that, but requires great vocal power and is challenging to tackle on a dramatic level – especially during the work's so-called "Recitation" and death scene.

Famous Adrianas of the past 75 years have included Claudia Muzio, Clara Petrella, Magda Olivero,[9] Renata Tebaldi, Carla Gavazzi, Leyla Gencer, Montserrat Caballé, Raina Kabaivanska, Renata Scotto, Mirella Freni, and Joan Sutherland.

[11] Angela Gheorghiu has reprised the role with great critical acclaim, in the same production, at the Vienna State Opera, when the opera was presented for the very first time on its stage (2014),[12] Paris (2015) [13] and again in London, when she celebrated 25 years on the stage of the Royal Opera House and 150 performances with the company (2017) [14] The Met presented a production new to that house by David McVicar on 31 December 2018, with Anna Netrebko in the title role, Piotr Beczała as Maurizio and Anita Rachvelishvili as the Princess de Bouillon.

[15] A recording of part of the opera's last act duet "No, più nobile", rearranged into a self-contained tenor aria, was made by Caruso as early as 1902 for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company in Milan and its affiliates, with Cilea at the piano.

Adriana enters, reciting, and replies to the others' praise with 'Io son l'umile ancella' ("I am the humble servant of the creative spirit").

On receiving Duclos's letter, Maurizio cancels his appointment with Adriana, who in turn opts to join the Prince's party.

A villa by the Seine The Princess de Bouillon, not the actress Duclos (who was only acting as her proxy), is anxiously waiting for Maurizio ("Acerba voluttà, dolce tortura").

However, the two women are mutually suspicious, and the rescue attempt turns into a blazing quarrel before the Princess finally leaves.

She quickly becomes deranged, and Michonnet and Maurizio - who'd presented the violets to the Princess - realize that Adriana has been poisoned.