Francesca da Rimini (Zandonai)

Francesca da Rimini, Op. 4, is an opera in four acts, composed by Riccardo Zandonai, with libretto by Tito Ricordi, (1865–1933), after the play Francesca da Rimini by Gabriele d'Annunzio. It was premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin on 19 February 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 performers 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. In 2013 it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role.

The story takes place in Ravenna and Rimini.

Francesca, daughter of Guido I da Polenta, for state reasons, is to be married to Giovanni, known as Gianciotto, the malformed son of Malatesta da Verucchio. 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.

...
Wikipedia