Francesca da Rimini (Tchaikovsky)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32 was composed in less than three weeks during his visit to Bayreuth in the autumn of 1876.

Related Topics:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Symphonic poem - Bayreuth - 1876

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In this fantasia, Tchaikovsky presents a symphonic interpretation of the tragic tale of Francesca da Rimini, a beauty who was immortalized in Dante's Divine Comedy. In the fifth canto of Inferno, Dante the narrator meets the shade of Francesca da Rimini, a noblewoman who fell in love with the brother of her ugly husband. After the lovers were discovered and killed in revenge by the husband, they were condemned to hell for their adulterous passions. In their damnation, the lovers are trapped in a violent storm but separated from each other, never to touch again. They are tormented most of all by the ineradicable memory of the joys and pleasures of the embraces they once shared.

Related Topics:
Fantasia - Francesca da Rimini - Dante - Divine Comedy - Canto - Inferno - Hell

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In writing Francesca da Rimini, Tchaikovsky expressed a poignant identification with the heroine and her tragic fate, a sympathy which was also dramatically evoked in his ballet Swan Lake and the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture.

Related Topics:
Ballet - Swan Lake - Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture

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