This symphonic opera begins with let us say a Wagnerian adagio that does not resolve for a full twenty minutes. From the overture onwards, the music deals only with the souls including those of Francesca and Paolo being tortured by unceasing winds in the second circle of Dante’s Hell. The next twenty minutes deals entirely, except for brief references to the impending war, with the jealousy consuming Sciancato and his futile and absurd hopes to prove Francesca’s infidelity wrong. What an honest, raw and sensitive composition in a totally Russian style of music making.
In this Rachmaninov version the name of the husband of Francesca is Lanciotto Malatesta, in the version by Zandonai he is called Gianciotto Malatestino.
What's with the stupid car in the end? Please stage these works as intended. I know Rachmaninov was a motor enthusiast, but he did not write cars into his operas.
This symphonic opera begins with let us say a Wagnerian adagio that does not resolve for a full twenty minutes. From the overture onwards, the music deals only with the souls including those of Francesca and Paolo being tortured by unceasing winds in the second circle of Dante’s Hell. The next twenty minutes deals entirely, except for brief references to the impending war, with the jealousy consuming Sciancato and his futile and absurd hopes to prove Francesca’s infidelity wrong. What an honest, raw and sensitive composition in a totally Russian style of music making.
In this Rachmaninov version the name of the husband of Francesca is Lanciotto Malatesta, in the version by Zandonai he is called Gianciotto Malatestino.
What's with the stupid car in the end? Please stage these works as intended. I know Rachmaninov was a motor enthusiast, but he did not write cars into his operas.