Francesca da Rimini (Zandonai)

Francesca da Rimini is an opera in four acts, composed by Riccardo Zandonai, with libretto by Tito Ricordi, (1865-1933), after a play by Gabriele D'Annunzio. It was premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin on February 19, 1914, and is still staged occasionally.

This opera is Zandonai's best-known work. In the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Renato Chiesa calls it "one of the most original and polished Italian melodramas of the 20th century, [which] combines a powerful gift for Italian melody ... with an exceptional command of orchestration." Celebrated exponents of the title role have included Gilda dalla Rizza, Magda Olivero (who recorded excerpts from the opera in 1969, for Decca Records) and Renata Scotto.

Roles

ynopsis

The story takes place in Ravenna and Rimini.

Francesca, daughter of Guido da Polenta, for state reasons, is to be married to Giovanni, known as Gianciotto, the malformed son of Malatesta de Verrucchio. But as Francesca would certainly refuse to marry the lame and deformed Gianciotto, she is introduced in the first act, by means of a well-laid plot, to his handsome younger brother, Paolo, known as il Bello. Under the impression that Paolo is her destined bridegroom, Francesca falls deeply in love with him at first sight; he also falls passionately in love with her, although they do not exchange a single word.

The next act shows a fight in progress between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, and on the platform of a tower of the Malatesti, Francesca, now married to Gianciotto, meets Paolo and gently reproaches him for the fraud practised on her. He protests his innocence of the plot and reveals his intense passion for her. Gianciotto brings the news of Paolo's election as Captain of the People and Commune of Florence. Paolo departs for Florence.

In the third act Francesca, in her luxurious apartment, is reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere to her women. They then dance and sing in celebration of the advent of Spring, until, on a whispered word from her slave, Francesca dismisses them. Paolo, sick with longing for her, has returned from Florence. He enters; they continue reading the story of Guinevere together, until, no longer in control of their feelings, they let their lips meet in a long kiss.

In the fourth act Malatestino, Gianciotto's youngest brother, who himself cherishes a guilty love for Francesca, has discovered her secret meetings with Paolo, and betrays them to Gianciotto, who determines to find out the truth for himself. Accordingly, he lies in wait outside Francesca's door, and surprising her and Paolo together at early dawn, he slays them both.

elected recordings

References

*Modern Music and Musicians, Vol. 1. The University Society, New York. (1918)
*New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Ed. Stanley Sadie, 1992

External links

*Libretto from [http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/Fran1.html Public-Domain Opera Libretti] or [http://www.karadar.com/Librettos/zandonai_francesca.html karadar.com]