Act I. Ballroom in a château. _Gérard_, a servant, but also a

revolutionist, is secretly in love with _Madeleine_, the _Countess's_ daughter. Among the guests at a ball is _André Chénier_, a poet with revolutionary tendencies. _Madeleine_ asks him to improvise a poem on love. Instead, he sings of the wrongs of the poor. _Gérard_ appears with a crowd of ragged men and women, but at the _Countess's_ command servants force the intruders out. _Chénier_ and _Madeleine_, the latter weary of the routine of fashion, have been attracted to each other.