from Act IV of the Italian opera
Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilèa
Libretto: Arturo Colautti
Role: Adriana Lecouvreur, the star of the Comédie-Française
Voice Part: soprano Fach: spinto
Setting: a room in Adriana's house, Paris, 1730
Synopsis: On her birthday, Adriana is sent a package which she believes is from Maurizio. Depressed and suicidal because of Maurizio's betrayal of their love, her mood is made worse when she opens the package and finds that it contains the decrepit remains of the violets that she gave Maurizio some time ago as a sign of their love. She sings to them of her sorrow. Little does she know, however, that the package is from Maurizio's other love, the Princesse de Bouillon, who has soaked the flowers in poison.