Adrien

Adrien is a given name and surname, and the French spelling for the name Adrian. It is also the masculine form of the feminine name Adrienne. Notable people with the name include:

Given name:

Surname:

See also

Adrien (opera)

Adrien (Hadrian) is an opera by the French composer Étienne Méhul. The libretto, by François-Benoît Hoffman, is closely based on Metastasio's Adriano in Siria. Originally intended for performance at the Paris Opéra in 1792, the work was caught up in the turbulent political climate of the French Revolution and banned until 1799.

Performance history

The opera was originally entitled Adrien, empereur de Rome and the premiere was scheduled for 13 March 1792. Hoffman had no political message in mind but the first act contained a scene in which the Emperor Hadrian celebrates a triumph. At the time, France felt under threat from Austria, whose Emperor Leopold II had just died. Rumours also spread that the horses to be used in the triumph were from the stables of Marie-Antoinette, the deeply unpopular French queen and Leopold's sister. Many Parisians began to express their displeasure at the forthcoming opera and on 12 March - in spite of the protests of the Opéra, which had invested large sums of money in the production - the political authorities intervened and banned the performance of Adrien to prevent a possible riot. A storm of controversy broke out in the Press as Hoffman refused to change his libretto, appealing to the law of 1791 which had freed French theatres from censorship as well as the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Nevertheless, the premiere was replaced by a revival of Piccinni's Atys.