“Poveri fiori” from Adriana Lecouvreur (1902)

Much the most popular of Cilea’s seven operas – although L’arlesiana retains a place in the repertoire too – Adriana Lecouvreur is set in 18th-century Paris, partly at the Comédie française where Adriana is a leading actress, partly in the palaces of the actresses’ aristocratic lovers and, in the last act, in Adriana’s own apartment. It is her birthday but, suspecting that her lover Maurizio has rejected her, she refuses to celebrate. On receiving a withered bunch of flowers which she recognises as the nosegay she had given to Maurizio the day before, she believes that her suspicions are confirmed. In fact, they were sent not by Maurizio but by a rival, who has poisoned them. As she sings her sad and increasingly passionate “Povera fiori” to them, she kisses them – with, as it turns out, fatal results. “Tutto” è finito” in more senses than one.