Francesca da Rimini (Tchaikovsky)

For other classical works, see Francesca da Rimini (disambiguation).

The composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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

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 together in a violent storm, whirled through the air around the second circle of Hell, never to touch the ground again. They are tormented most of all by the ineradicable memory of the joys and pleasures of the embraces they shared in life.

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.

This symphonic poem, perhaps more than any other of Tchaikovsky's works, shows the possible influence of Franz Liszt, both musically and in terms of subject matter. Liszt frequently chose subjects of a Gothic, diabolical nature: the Totentanz (1849), Sonata Après une lecture de Dante (1856), and Dante Symphony (1857) are cases in point. Tchaikovsky's use of swirling chromaticism in the depiction of the winds of the second circle of Hell also resembles Liszt.

The piece has a duration of around 25 minutes.

Instrumentation

The music is score for 3 flutes (third doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets in A, 2 trumpets in E, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, tam tam, harp and strings.

Notable recordings

• Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic. (three recordings 1948, 1972 and 1983)
• Leopold Stokowski conducting the New York Stadium Symphony Orchestra (the summer name for the New York Philharmonic) and the London Symphony Orchestra.
• Mstislav Rostropovich conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Daniel Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
• Antonio Pappano conducting the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
• Mariss Jansons conducting the Oslo Philharmonic.
• Yevgeny Svetlanov conducting the Russian State Symphony Orchestra.
• Bernard Haitink conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
• Vladimir Fedoseyev conducting Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.
• Seiji Ozawa conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.
• Neeme Järvi conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
• Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic (twice).
• Christoph Eschenbach conducting the Houston Symphony.
• Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra.
• Igor Markevitch conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra.
• Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
• Charles Munch conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Riccardo Muti conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra.
• Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra.

References in other contexts

• Figures prominently in the 1948 motion picture Unfaithfully Yours by Preston Sturges
• Excerpt used in the climactic scene of the 1966 motion picture Torn Curtain by Alfred Hitchcock (staged incongruously as a ballet)
• Excerpts from the score were used in the 2005 ballet Anna Karenina, choreographed by Boris Eifman.
• Brief excerpts were used in a few episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show.

External links

• Francesca da Rimini: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.