Francesca da Rimini is a famous Italian noble woman. In European culture, it has become one of the eternal images. Her tragic life was captured by many writers, composers, artists and directors.
Historical person
It is authentically known that Francesca da Rimini was born around 1255 in Italy. She was born into the family of the ruler of the Italian region of Ravenna, whose name was Guido I da Polenta.
From youth, the heroine of our article was particularly beautiful and attractive. At the age of 20, her parents decided to marry her. In the elect she was identified as the head of the province of Rimini, whose name was Giancotto Malatesta. Obviously, her father was counting on a dynastic marriage. In particular, such a version is contained in the work of Dante, dedicated to the heroine of our article.
Francesca herself soon fell in love with her husband’s younger brother, whose name was Paolo. Soon, the husband found the lovers together and, in a fit of jealousy, stabbed both of them.
This is the official version of what happened. However, researchers who have tried to understand this story thoroughly have many questions. There is no consensus even on the city in which the murder occurred. Several versions are made - Pesaro, Rimini … They even call the castle of Gradara, located in the province of Pesaro e Urbino.
Francesca in the poem of Dante
Francesca da Rimini is one of the characters in the famous poem of Dante Alighieri. She appears in the book "Hell" in the fifth song. "The Divine Comedy" is a work that made Francesca so famous. It was after this episode that many other representatives of creative professions in different genres began to use this episode.
The poet tells her story Francesca da Rimini herself. Dante learns from her that feelings between the lovers arose after they read for two a story about one of the knights of the Round Table - Lancelot.
An allusion to the story of Lancelot
Francesca says that the book became Galeot for them, after which none of them read the worksheet. Galeot mentioned in this verse was a close friend of Lancelot, participated in many of his adventures. It was Galeot who contributed to the knight's relationship with the wife of King Arthur Ginevra.
In The Divine Comedy, Dante draws an obvious parallel between the story of Frasky and Paolo and Lancelot's love for the wife of King Arthur. True, in the English legends themselves this episode is told in a slightly different way: not Lancelot kisses the queen, but she kisses him, and does it in public.
Francesca in other works
After the story of Francesca da Rimini told Dante, it began to be used by many other poets and writers. We list only the most famous works in which this plot is mentioned.
In 1818, it was described by the Italian playwright Silvio Pellico, who lived during the reign of the Austrian Empire in Italy. He talks about the fate of the heroine of our article in the tragedy of Francesca da Rimini.
The same plot is used by the English romantic poet John Keats in the Sonnet sonnet. And George Henry Boker - in his drama.
The novel of the same name is written about Paolo and Francesca by a German prose writer, Paul Heisey, Nobel Prize winner in literature of 1910. And in 1901, a work written by the Italian playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio comes out. In 1902, the American fiction writer Francis Crawford also created a tragedy.
The tragic fate of the heroes is set forth in the Soviet poet, pupil of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Semyon Kirsanov, in the poem "Hell".
The history of Francesca among Russian Symbolists
Of course, the history of this noble Italian lady attracted the Russian Symbolists. Alexander Blok mentions about her in his program poem "She came from the cold …". In this case, the story in this work becomes an expressive pointing. The lyrical hero is angry that pigeons are kissing in front of his eyes, and not he with his beloved, and that the times of Paolo Malatest and Francesca have irrevocably passed.
Another Russian symbolist Dmitry Merezhkovsky has a poem, Francesca Rimini, written in 1885. He retells the story in detail as described by Dante. Even mentions an episode reading a novel about Lancelot.
Francesca in the fine arts
Often this image prompted the work of many artists. Frenchman Ari Schaeffer in 1855 wrote the painting "The ghosts of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta are Dante and Virgil." Having read Dante’s poem in the original, the painter depicts characters with pedantic, even meticulous accuracy.
In their meeting, which takes place in the other world, there is a lot of literature and sentimentality that was inherent in English painting of that time.
Another French artist, Alexander Cabanel, in 1870 wrote the painting "Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta". The Cabanel story is depicted as uniquely as possible. It’s sunny noon outside, and the lovers retire in the room, closing all the shutters tightly and carefully. They are caught by an angry and jealous husband who already knew in advance what to do. He killed them both. In the picture we already see two lifeless bodies, and a cold-blooded killer with a sword in his hands is standing behind the curtain.
The leader of European academism, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, has a canvas called "Paolo and Francesca", written in 1819. In this case, he turns to romantic themes in his work. Moreover, he returned to this topic more than once.
In an earlier version, 1814, we see an obvious romantic impulse. To one degree or another, it has been preserved in subsequent paintings. He depicts a couple in love, who forgot about everything in the world, plunged into a passionate kiss. They are in a state of selfless passion when they are not at all interested in what is happening around. And here, from behind the curtains, a husband appears, ready in an instant to destroy this idyll.
Francesca in illustrations and sculpture
One of the most famous images on this plot was written by another Frenchman - Gustave Dore. Paolo and Francesca da Rimini are depicted in his illustrations for the next French edition of the immortal poem by Dante Alighieri.
There was a place of passion for lovers in sculpture. Marble sculpture created by Auguste Rodin. In 1889, he first presented it at the World Exhibition in Paris. The hugging couple was originally part of a large relief group. She was supposed to adorn the Gates of Hell, which was ordered from Rodin by the Paris Museum of Art. However, over time, in this composition they were replaced by another pair of lovers.
Initially, this sculpture was named after Francesca, directly indicating which plot is described here. At Rodin’s work, you can see Paolo holding a book about Lancelot. At the same time, lovers do not touch each other with their lips, thus demonstrating that they died before they had time to commit sin.
A more alienated name - "Kiss" - the sculpture was given by critics who first saw it in 1887. From this work, it is especially clearly seen how Roden treated female characters in his works, giving an unconditional tribute to their body. Women are not in the power of men. They are equal partners for them in their passion. The pronounced eroticism of this sculpture caused a lot of controversy and discussion. For example, when a copy of it was sent to the World Exhibition in Chicago in 1893, local critics considered it simply unacceptable to put on public display. Therefore, the sculpture was placed in a separate closed room. Visitors were allowed there only by their personal appeal.
Francesca in music
Actively used this image in their work and composers from around the world. In 1876, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky came out with a symphonic fantasy "Francesca da Rimini". In the center of the musical composition is the story of Francesca herself, whose theme is performed solo on clarinet. It starts sadly and even rustic, but with time it develops, it becomes wavy with unexpected ups and downs.
The theme develops and leads listeners to read lovers' books about Lancelot, then a tragic end ensues.
Opera Rachmaninov
In 1904, the opera of the same name was written by Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov. The authorship of the libretto belongs to Modest Tchaikovsky. It should be noted that this is a chamber opera, which, according to the genre, approaches a cantata or an orchestra poem. The orchestra conveys all the drama. Moreover, in the opera there is no strict division into separate numbers, its action develops rapidly and continuously.
In the first picture we see the experiences of a husband who is overcome by jealous thoughts. The second begins with a calm and even detached reading of the legend of Lancelot, and ends with an irresistible passion with which the heroes are drawn to each other. The premiere of this opera took place in 1906 at the Bolshoi Theater. The author conducted the orchestra. The role of Gianchotto was performed by opera singer George Baklanov, his younger brother was played by Anton Bonachich, and Francesca was honored artist of the imperial theaters Nadezhda Salina.
Many critics noted the wonderful music that Rachmaninoff wrote, but due to an unsuccessful libretto, the opera soon left the repertoire. The performance was resumed only in 1973. This time, Francesca was played by Galina Vishnevskaya, Paolo - Alexei Maslennikov, and Gianchotto - Evgeny Nesterenko.
In addition, in 1902, an opera of the same name was released in Russia. Its author was the Czech composer Eduard Napravnik.
And in 1914, on the basis of the tragedy already mentioned in this article, Gabriele D'Annunzio, the Italian composer Riccardo Zandonai wrote the opera of the same name.
Francesca and ballet
This story was also used in Russian ballet. On the basis of Tchaikovsky’s symphonic fantasy, the ballets were staged repeatedly.
The first author was Mikhail Fokin. His work was performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater. The premiere took place in 1915.
At the height of World War II, in 1943, People's Artist of the USSR Boris Afanasyev wrote the ballet in three acts. He managed to put it in 1947 in the metropolitan musical theater named after Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko.
