Yesterday (already, it turns out, the day before yesterday) I went to the Opera House to see Rachmaninoff's Francesca da Rimini. This opera is staged in the Small Hall, again in a semi-concert performance: with conventional costumes and a hint of scenery. The production director is the same our most productive Vyacheslav Starodubtsev, whom Vadim Zhuravlev calls the most boring. Regarding The Queen of Spades, I can even agree, but he staged Francesca quite well, beating, as usual, the balcony and the upper side galleries of the Small Hall in order to substantively show those inner distances that actually divide the heroes.

This opera by Rachmaninov is difficult to stage, first of all, because there is not so much vocals there. The descriptions often indicate that it is closer in structure to the cantata. And the symphonic parts on the stage need to be filled with something. Starodubtsev filled the choir with walking (this should depict the flight of sinful souls worn by a hellish whirlwind), playing with antique masks (each character has his own mask. Masks, apparently, symbolize the archetypal, eternal in the characters of a particular story. Or maybe it hides the true essence of each) and plastic sketches. These are:

This is Paolo and Francesca, carried by a hellish whirlwind. But they (Paolo - Sergei Kuzmin, Francesca - Sofia Bachaeva) are going to surrender to love:

And here are the masked characters in the final scene (on the left, Sergey Kuzmin and Sofia Bachaeva):

To be honest, I'm not quite sure of the aesthetic height of the plastic sketches, but in the end, if someone doesn't want to watch, you can close your eyes and listen to music. Rachmaninov's music is grand, and maestro Dmitry Yurovsky, contrary to usual, does not "smear" the orchestra, but gives it a powerful sound and does not drive the tempo (I listened to the finale on YouTube under the direction of Mikhail Pletnev - there is just a hop-gallop, hop-gallop "). In general, I love Rachmaninov, and this opera especially, and the day before yesterday I went to listen for the third time, which shocked the violinist girl from the orchestra, who was told this fact (our Small Hall is so arranged that the orchestra members come out with the audience, and you can thank the musicians and spread a word).

The third time I went to listen to new performers of the parts of Paolo and Francesca - there were just Sergei Kuzmin and Sofia Bachaeva, and before that I listened twice with Vladimir Kuchin and Anna Dattay. But Alexei Zelenkov sang the part of Lanciotto Malatesta all three times, and I highly recommend both Novosibirsk and guests of our city to go to this opera with us, primarily in order to hear Alexei, while he has not yet "sang" this role or until he is enticed to the Bolshoi Theater (and was invited, it is known for certain).

(Alexey Zelenkov as Lanciotto Malatesta)

No, my recommendation does not mean that the others sang badly. Even the small parts of Dante (Kirill Nifontov) and The Shadow of Virgil (Maxim Golovachev) were made very expressively. Both Anna Dattay and Sofia Bachaeva are wonderful Francesca, and very different. For Dattay, she is a kind of thing in herself, completely petrified in front of her unloved husband, for Bachaeva, she cannot hide her disgust and can barely withstand the role of a submissive wife. Francesca's part, of course, is difficult from a vocal point of view - Rachmaninov, in order to show how Francesca's feelings played with the spring waters, wrote her aria ("Oh, do not cry, my Paolo"), and the subsequent duet with Paolo in a fairly high tessiture, with the top "si" of the soprano, but the singers coped with these difficulties. Kuchin's Paolo is more frivolous, Kuzmin's is more passionate. But the vocal and dramatic core of Rachmaninoff's opera is precisely the part of Lanciotto. Zelenkov leads it with genuine drama, but without losing a sense of proportion and without crossing the boundaries of good taste. Moreover, his Lanciotto is always different. In short, this is a wonderful vocal and acting job.

Well, and a little bit of educational program, which is no longer directly related to our theater.

Francesca da Rimini, nee da Polenta, lived in the 13th century. (estimated years of life - 1255 - 1285). Her father, Guido I da Polenta, was a podesta (ie, head of the executive and judicial branch) of Ravenna. They say that Francesca Gvidovna was distinguished by outstanding beauty, and the father decided to arrange a profitable dynastic marriage, giving her for the son of the pdvesta of Ravenna, for the very Gianchotto Malatesta. At Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who composed the libretto for Rachmaninoff's opera and whom my late Teacher affectionately called Modey or Modinka, Giovanni apparently turned into Lanfranco or even into Lancelot, hence Lanciotto.

It is known that the marriage took place in 1275. This means that the newlywed was then about twenty years old. Therefore, before her death, she lived with her unloved husband for about ten years. At the same time, she loved her brother-in-law, her husband's younger brother, Paolo. There is a persistent legend, which was either let or recorded by Giovanni Boccaccio in the comments to Dante's Divine Comedy, that Guido da Polenta deceived his daughter into marriage through a so-called marriage with a representative (remember "Angelica, Marquis of Angels" - remember, there instead the lame de Peyrac arrives a handsome and elegant marquis d "Andijos as a representative of the count? Here is the same story.) And the representative was supposedly Paolo, who was passed off as the girl's real fiancé. However, such a representation was hardly possible, because by that time Paolo was married.

Therefore, the question remains open, at what point out of these approximately ten years of marriage, Francesca fell in love with Paolo. It is only known that Paolo lived separately with his legal wife for several years: she was in the estate, and he was pushing in Rimini, where he was not only engaged in politics, but also, probably, was disgraceful in the house of his older brother. Whether there was love on his part - God knows. The long-killed hero-lover cannot get into the head, but, unfortunately, it could be that he just went to spend ... copulate with his daughter-in-law. The husband, as usual, was the last to know about everything, but he did. And so, according to one version (Jacopo della Lana, commentary on the "Divine Comedy" from 1320), he sneaked into the bedroom where the lovers were frolicking, found them in coitu and pierced them through with a sword, planted both on the blade, like quails on a spit ("he shot both of them with one bullet and wandered along the bank in anguish" - from the same series). According to another, more believable, Paolo ran through the back door / secret passage while Francesca detained her husband, who suddenly fell on his head, "unlocking" the door, but caught his clothes on a hook and was thus captured by his brother.

Here is an artistic masterpiece of a contemporary artist showing "how everything happened" (aesthetically vulnerable under the spoiler do not go!) In the last version:

(Vladimir Kapustin. Paolo Malatesta, caught on a hook with a hem made of very high quality manufactory fabric, which did not tear!)

Until now, no one knows exactly where this mournful event took place: either in Rimini, or in Pesaro, or in Santarcangelo di Romagna, or in the castle of Gradara. Castle of Gradara, meanwhile, shows tourists exactly how "that place" is. The case, of course, is a tragic one, it very quickly turned into gossip, which was passed from mouth to mouth with sighs, sighs and head shakes, but it would have been safely forgotten if it had not been included in Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" (Hell, V) , who personally knew the brother of the murdered Francesca. In other words, the young lady became famous, in fact, only for the fact that she was very scandalous and with extremely grave consequences, but she was immortalized by Dante himself!

By the time when the harsh Dante wrote "Inferno", Francesca's story was still on everyone's lips, so he only slightly hints at the background of the relationship of the sinful couple. Dante's story by Francesca is very short, but he shocked his poetic counterpart so much that he "fell like a dead man falls." Those who wish to read Dante's text can do so, and in the original language too.

If you want to read a little about the historical basis of Dante's fragment, then you are here. The magazine "Vokrug Sveta", of course, is not a scientific source, but not the worst of the popular ones.

Information about Rachmaninoff's opera and its summary -.

By the way, Modest Ilyich's libretto was based on the translation of Dmitry Merezhkovsky, and according to the link that I gave above - the translation, of course, by Mikhail Lozinsky.

Well, the musical illustrations are for those who cannot imagine how Rachmaninoff's "Francesca da Rimini" sounds.

1. Lanciotto's monologue, stage and aria. Alexander Vinogradov and Gelena Gaskarova... This is from a 2015 production in Nancy. She is a little funny, as is often the case with the rezoper, but they sing well. (You can see it in full). Lanciotto is going on a campaign against the Ghibellines (who are Guelphs and Ghibellines, google it yourself. Guelphs were still white and black, hee-hee), at the same time he is tormented by jealous thoughts. Notice how intonationally poor Francesca's lines are. She will intonate with Paolo, and speaks with her husband with such wooden phrases - this is how the composer showed Francesca's genuine attitude towards her husband.

2. You can't do without old-schoolness. Alexander Pirogov, Symphony Orchestra of the All-Union Radio (who is the conductor - not specified). Only aria ("I want your love"). Pay attention to the pace here. I would say that the tempo is imposing - in the first half of the 20th century they sang much slower than now, and not only in Russia / USSR, but all over the world.

3. Francesca's aria ("Oh, don't cry, my Paolo"). Gelena Gaskarova.

4. And while looking for good performances of this aria, I stumbled upon an Argentine singer Mercedes Arcuri... Now she is 40 years old (she was born in 1979). She has a pretty good Russian and does a pretty good job with high notes.

So how did you like it? If so, now we need to listen to it in a live production. We follow the poster. If I manage to infect at least one person with opera, I will know that I did not write my posts in vain.

Oh yes - what happened to the historic Gianni Malatesta? Yes, he married later, was much more prosperous in his second marriage, gave birth to either five or six children. And there was nothing to him for his murder! On the contrary, he became immortal. True, there was a reason for immortality, um ... I wouldn't want that for myself.

PS: photos taken from the official site of NOVAT.

With astonishing self-control and perseverance, Rachmaninov develops this large-scale picture (the prologue is more than twenty minutes long) from one descending second intonation. In the first bars of the opera, it sounds dull and gloomy at the clarinet and the muffled French horn in unison, and between the first and the second voice that soon joins it, there are intervals reminiscent of the initial turns of the theme of the medieval Catholic hymn "Dies irae", which he later repeatedly addressed in his work Rachmaninov:

The prologue is divided into three sections, forming three large waves of sequential, continuous growth: the orchestral introduction, the first circle of hell and the second circle of hell. The principle of undulating development is preserved within each of the sections. So, the introduction consists of two expanded constructions. After the first wave, based on chromatic passages running simultaneously in different voices of the orchestra, there is a fugato, the theme of which covers the range of both initial voices and combines them into one melodic line:

The sound fabric gradually thickens, and at the top of this second wave, whole chord complexes slowly move chromatically, as if the sighs and groans of souls driven by a hellish whirlwind merge into one formidable howl.

In the first circle of hell, the pattern of chromatic passages and the tonal plan change (the main tonality of this section is e-moll, in contrast to the introduction, where d-moll dominates). The orchestral sound is joined by a choir singing without words with a closed mouth (Initially, Rachmaninov wanted to create an expanded choral scene in the prologue and asked his librettist to write about thirty verses of the text for it, which could be divided between different groups of the choir (see his letter to M. Tchaikovsky, August 28, 1898) Subsequently, he abandoned this intention, which was associated with a change in the general concept of the opera, which resulted in a more compact, symphonically generalized form.). This technique, used by Rachmaninoff in the cantata "Spring", finds a wide and varied application here. Thanks to various methods of sound production, the timbre color of the wordlessly singing chorus changes. In the second circle of hell, the choir sings with its open mouth on the vowel "a", which gives it a brighter sound. However, here, too, his part is devoid of melodic independence and is based only on sustained harmonic sounds. The only time the choir performs independently is in the epilogue, where it chants in unison a phrase that sounds like a fatal tragic motto: "There is no greater sorrow than remembering a happy time in misfortune."

The movement is gradually accelerating, the sonority is increasing all the time, reaching a powerful climax at the moment when the ghosts of those condemned to eternal torment are swiftly sweeping before the gaze of Virgil and the horrified Dante. Then this formidable raging of hellish whirlwinds gradually subsides and the ghosts of Francesca and Paolo appear. The color of the music becomes more transparent. The Francesca theme sounds expressive for the cello and clarinet, which produces a particularly light, soothing impression because after a long undivided domination of minor keys, a major appears here (albeit for a short time) (It is interesting to note that the first performance of this theme is given in Des-dur - the tonality of the last, culminating section of the scene by Francesca and Paolo.). Against the background of soft outstretched chords of woodwind and strings with flickering tremolo violins and the ringing timbre of the harp, Francesca and Paolo sing a sad phrase, which the chorus then repeats in the epilogue: "There is no greater sorrow ..." This phrase is melodiously based on a modified fugato theme from orchestral introduction, reminiscent of old Russian church tunes. In it one can catch some features of similarity with the main theme of the Third Piano Concerto, the closeness of which to the intonations of the znamenny chant has been noted more than once. This similarity is enhanced by the tonal commonality (d-moll) and the same "ambitus" of the melody, which unfolds within the reduced fourth between the VII and III degrees of the harmonic minor:

The smoothly descending violin sequences (and then the solo oboe), built on the same phrase at the end of the prologue, sound like a quiet, sad complaint.

The two pictures of the opera are in a contrasting relationship. Each of them gives a complete portrait of one of the main characters. The first picture, which paints the stern and gloomy image of Francesca's husband, Lanciotto Malatesta, is essentially monologue. The cardinal is silently present at the beginning of this picture (The only rudiment of his musical characteristic is the choral chord progression that sounds in the orchestra at the moment he leaves the stage.) The party of Francesca, who comes on the orders of a spouse preparing to go on a campaign, is limited to a few short remarks.

The three scenes into which this picture falls apart form one indissoluble whole. They are united by the continuous development of two themes associated with the image of Lanciotto. One of them, based on an energetic and resilient marching rhythm, characterizes him as a cruel and merciless warrior:

This theme is widely developed in the orchestral introduction to the first picture and in the opening scene with the Cardinal. The conclusion of the picture is based on the same theme, but in the key of c-moll, and not cis-moll. At the beginning of the second scene, when Lanciotto is left alone, gripped by grave jealous suspicions, another of his theme, of a gloomy pathetic character, plays in the orchestra, sounding menacingly with trombones in an octave, amplified by four French horns, against the background of tremolating strings:

Episodes of a declamatory character alternate in Lanciotto's part with more complete arious constructions. In the second scene - this is the memory of the fatal deception, the victims of which were both Francesca and Lanciotto himself ("Your father, yes, your father is to blame for all!"), Oppressive doubts and torments of jealousy. In the third scene - a passionate plea to Francesca (“I want your love!”), A stormy explosion of unrequited love for her, mixed with despair and hopelessness. Here again, with great expressive power, the pathetic theme of love and jealousy sounds, but in a different orchestral setting (unison of strings instead of trombones and horns), which gives it a softer lyrical coloration. Then follows a section based on the dotted marching rhythms of the first, "warlike" theme of Lanciotto ("Oh, descend, descend from your heights ...") (According to Zhukovskaya, Rachmaninoff used a piano prelude he had composed earlier, cycle of preludes op.23), which also changes its character here, recalling the slow, heavy tread of a funeral march.

Rachmaninov, however, does not give these arious constructions a completely finished form, organically integrating them into the general stream of development. Thus, the first of these episodes does not end with a stable cadence construction in its main key c-minor, but directly passes into the subsequent recitative section with a mobile, unstable tonal plan and a freely developing texture of orchestral accompaniment. Individual, especially expressively accentuated remarks acquire the significance of borderline dramatic climaxes. This is Lanciotto's angry exclamation "Damn it!" in the second scene, emphasized by a tonal shift in d-moll (This key, dominant in the prologue, appears for the first time in the first picture.) and an unexpected menacing explosion of orchestral sonority:

Similarly, the same word stands out, involuntarily escaping from Lanciotto's mouth, further, in the scene with Francesca.

In general, this picture is an excellent example of a through dramatic opera scene, in which vocal and orchestral means of expression are subordinated to a single artistic goal and serve to reveal a complex psychological image in all its internal contradiction and confrontation of emotional drives and passions.

The second picture takes us to a completely different world, the personification of which is the bright and pure image of Francesca. Its theme, which episodically took place in the prologue and the first picture, is broadly developed here, retaining, with all the modifications, its clear and integral expressive character. This is one of the most poetic lyric melodies of Rachmaninoff, remarkable for its "spatial" length, breadth and freedom of breathing. Pouring out from a high peak, it smoothly and unhurriedly descends along diatonic steps by more than two octaves, with a gradual rhythmic inhibition and expansion of the intervals between sounds (example 90a). A variant of this theme is a melodic construction from a chain of sequences (example 90b):

The whole color of the music in this picture, as if illuminated by a soft and gentle radiance, creates a sharp contrast to the previous one and sets it apart from the gloomy and ominous environment in which it is presented in the opera. This is facilitated by the means of tonal-harmonic, orchestral and textured plan. If in the prologue and the first picture a continuous chain of minor keys gave the music a gloomy color, then here, on the contrary, a clear and bright major dominates almost invariably, only occasionally darkened by passing deviations into the minor sphere (The main keys of the second picture are As-major, E-major and Des-major. Note that As-major is the point of the greatest distance from the d-minor, which begins and ends the opera.). The instrumentation is light and transparent, the sound of strings and tall wooden ones prevails, while the copper band is used extremely sparingly and carefully. The introduction to the second picture, based on the Francesca theme, which sounds mostly with a flute, at times doubled by an oboe or clarinet, is distinguished by a special airy color, against the background of an easily swaying accompaniment of dumbfounded violins and occasionally pizzicato string bass. Only for a short moment tutti appears, after which the orchestral sonority is again rarefied and extinguished.

Francesca and Paolo's scene is very clear in structure and consists of three parts. The first part is an episode of the young lovers reading the story of the beautiful Guinevere and Lancelot, interrupted by the passionate remarks of Paolo. The musically unifying moment of this section is Francesca's theme, which is a constant refrain in the orchestra. The middle of the whole scene is Francesca's arioso "Let us not know kissing." The music of this arioso, imbued with serene lyrical peace, captivates with the purity of color, delicate lightness and subtlety of the pattern. Paolo's exclamation “But what heaven is to me with its impassive beauty”, emphasized by a sudden tonal shift from E-major to D-moll, a change in the tempo and texture of the orchestral accompaniment, violates this state of detached contemplative bliss, and a small transitional construction leads to the final section of the scene - the duet of Francesca and Paolo in Des-dur (It is possible that this key was chosen not without the influence of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.).

It was this section that caused dissatisfaction with Rachmaninov, who wrote to Morozov: “... I have an approach to a love duet; there is a conclusion of a love duet, but the duet itself is absent. " Indeed, the transition from Francesca's "blue" arioso to the triumphant Des-dur of the last section seems too short and swift. This was felt not only by the author himself, but also by some of the listeners and critics (Thus, Engel noted that “in an excellent love duet, it seems, there is no worthy culmination point.”).

In addition to this constructive miscalculation, the scene of Francesca and Paolo does not fully produce the impression that the composer was striving for, due to the insufficiently correct and accurate choice of expressive means. The music of this scene is beautiful, poetic and noble, but somewhat cold in expression. She lacks that inner tension and strength that are necessary for the embodiment of the immortal episode of the "Divine Comedy", called by the Soviet researcher Dante "perhaps the most passionate hymn of love in all world literature."

One of the critics wrote, pointing to the insufficient, in his opinion, expressive brightness of the scene of Francesca and Paolo: "Here we need a continuous cantilena that permeates the soul, like in Tchaikovsky ...". Later, Asafiev, speaking about the embodiment of Dante's images in music, developed the same parallel between Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky: “Painting Francesca in bright colors, Rachmaninov stands closer to her ideal appearance of a young Italian woman, but, drawing Francesca in the darkness of hell, like a shadow recalling about the past, Tchaikovsky turns out to be stronger in terms of expressiveness and relief ... ".

In the appearance of Rachmaninov's Francesca there is something from the stern female faces and soft, light tones on the frescoes of B. Giotto, a contemporary of Dante. Her musical image, with all its poetic purity and spirituality, does not create the proper contrast to the ominously tragic figure of Lanciotto and the gloomy pictures of the hellish abyss that surrounds the opera, filled with the groans and cries of those doomed to languish in it. Contrary to the composer's intentions, Francesca and Paolo's scene did not become a true culmination of the action. The relative brevity of this picture (According to the composer's own calculations, the second picture, together with the epilogue, lasts twenty-one minutes with a total duration of the opera of one hour and five minutes.) great pages have often gone unnoticed and underestimated.

On the border of the Emilia-Romagna and the Marche regions, breaking the smooth line of the Carpegna hills, stands the Castle of Gradara. Classic travelers do not linger near the old walls, but only see off the stern silhouette of a medieval fortress with admiring glances while the guide tells about the tragic love story of Francesca and Paolo. But the old castle irresistibly attracts explorers of Italy, scientists and romantics.

View of the castle in Gradara - The castle of Rocca di Gradara.

The construction of the castle began around the middle of the 12th century, when two brothers Pietro and Ridolfo from the Grifo family took possession of the area that had previously belonged to Pesaro. Further, the fortress passed from hand to hand, until the powerful Giovanni Malatesta da Verrucchio (the founder of the dynasty in Rimini) finally secured the Castle of Gradar. In 1299, Pope Boniface VIII granted him the right of indefinite possession of Gradara.

Paolo and Francesca (The Story of Rimini) __ Watts, George Frederick (1817-1904)

Of the four sons of old Giovanni, only one showed concern for the continued construction of the castle - Pandolfo. In the courtyard of the fortress you can see the coat of arms of the Malatesta family with his initials. But not this passionate patriot of Gradara is the subject of a romantic old legend that attracts fans of the Italian epic here, but two of his brothers: Giovanni, nicknamed "the cripple" and Paolo "the handsome".

There was a long-standing enmity between the rulers of Rimini and Ravenna. Finally, the strife was settled, and in order to strengthen the relationship between the houses, they decided to marry the children. The eldest son of Malatesta, Giovanni (Gianchotto), was chosen as the groom. Guido da Polenta from Ravenna wanted to see him as his son-in-law as the heir and man of the clever one, but the beautiful Francesca would hardly want to marry the lame, ugly Giovanni, who is also known for his ferocious disposition.

Lajos Gulacsy __Paolo and Francesca 1903

In order not to upset the deal, the fathers resorted to tricks: to conclude a marriage contract, Giovanni's younger brother, the handsome Paolo, arrived in Ravenna. The young bride took him for her future husband and fell in love with him passionately. The unsuspecting unfortunate girl was taken to Rimini, where she learned about the deception. The bonds of marriage could not cool Francesca's passion for her lawful husband's brother, and the lovers began to meet in secret.

Aristide Croisy__Paolo and Francesca (1876)

Anselm Friedrich Feuerbach (1829 1880) __ Paolo And Francesca_1864

Paolo and Francesca (from Dante "s Inferno) reading about Lancelot and Guenivere. Inspired by this story, they kiss.Paolo and Francesca (from Dante's Divine Comedy) kiss, inspired by the story they read about Lancelot and Ginevra.

In our spare hour we read once
A sweet story about Lancelot;
We were alone, everyone was careless.

Over the book, eyes met more than once,
And we turned pale with a secret shudder;
But then the story won over us.

We read a little about how he kiss
I clung to the smile of my dear mouth,
The one with whom I am bound forever by torment,

He kissed, trembling, my lips.
And the book became our Galeot!
None of us have finished reading the sheet
Translated by M.L. Lozinsky

Edward Charles Halle (1846-1914) __ Paolo and Francesca

Paolo and Francesca 1894 - Sir Frank Dicksee (Frank Bernard Dicksee) (English 1853-1928)

Amos Cassioli__ Paolo e Francesca (1870)

William Dyce (1806-1864) __ Francesca da Rimini, exh. 1837.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) __ Paolo and Francesca da Rimini_1867__Watercolours

Alexander Munro (1825-1871) __ Paolo and Francesca_Marble_1852

Giovanni, being Lord Pesaro, was supposed to live at the place of service, but according to the laws of that time, the family (wife and children) lived separately outside the city. Thus, the ancestral castle of Gradara, located 13 km from Pesaro, became for Francesca both a prison and a meeting place with her beloved Paolo.

The dream (Paolo and Francesca), 1909 by Umberto Boccioni

Upon learning of secret meetings, Giovanni established surveillance of the lovers. Once, pretending to be leaving on business, the insidious husband unexpectedly returned and found the door to his wife's bedroom locked. The loud knocking and screams of the angry spouse took the lovers by surprise, but Paolo persuaded Francesca to open the door. There was another secret exit in the room, through which the unlucky lover hoped to hide.

Felice Giani__paolo_malatesta_e_francesca_da_polenta_1813

Gustave Dore: Dante Paolo and Francesca

Anonimo__Paolo and Francesca (1804)

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) __ Paolo and Francesca_1819

But a banal situation will never become a legend without a bloody denouement. Maybe the door was too small, or maybe Paolo's sword was too long, and Giovanni burst in and saw his younger brother in his wife's bedroom. In a fit of anger, Lord Pesaro threw himself at the offender with a knife, but Francesca took the fatal blow. Without hesitation, she threw herself between her lover and her husband, and the dagger intended by Paolo pierced her chest. Seeing his wife dead, Giovanni fell into a rage and stabbed his brother.

1805-10 _ Paolo and Francesca discovered by Gianciotto__ Joseph Anton Koch.

Sir Joseph Noel Paton (1821-1901) __ The Murder of Paolo and Francesca

Louis Boulanger__paolo_e_francesca_gli_amanti_trafitti_1840

Paolo and Francesca_1887__ Previati, Gaetano (1852-1920)

Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889) __Death of Francesca da Rimini and of Paolo Malatesta _ 1870

It happened in 1289. History is silent about what happened next to Giovanni.

Scientists have found a lot of evidence that the events described really took place in Gradar between 1285 and 1289. And of course, one must take into account the legend passed down from father to son by the inhabitants of Gradara. A legend that tells about this terrible event and that the restless soul of an unfortunate woman still wanders around the castle on a full moon. The interior of the palace lovingly recreates the setting of the 13th century, including Francesca's bedroom, which has become the scene of a bloody drama.

Bianchi Mose (Italia 1840-1904) __ Paolo e Francesca 1877.

The Souls of Paolo and Francesca (Dante, Inferno, Canto 5) __ Dore (Paul-) Gustave (1832-1883)

Perhaps this sad love story would have remained outside the walls of the old fortress, if not for the contemporary of Francesca and Paolo - Dante Alighieri. Traveling with Virgil through the circles of Hell in The Divine Comedy, he saw a man and a woman, who never opened their arms in the eternal whirlwind of the Devil's fire. Passion for love led them straight into the arms of death, and now they shared the suffering of Hell, as they once shared love joys.

Gustave Dore * s illustration to Dante "s Inferno. Plate XVIII: Canto V_1857

"So I came down, leaving the initial circle;
Down in the second; he is less than the one
But a sad groan is heard in him of great agony.

And I learned that this circle of torment
For those whom earthly flesh called,
Who has betrayed the mind to the power of lust. "

With these words the Italian poet Dante Alighieri begins the story of the tragic love between Francesca and Paolo in his great work Divina Commedia (1307-1321).

Paolo and Francesca da Rimini by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1855)

Paolo and Francesca - Divine Comedy - Hell - Gustave Dore

Jean Baptiste Hugues__Paolo e Francesca (1877)

Very succinctly and extremely simply, on just a few pages, the poet tells how he met the unfortunate lovers, "who are together and so easily carried away by the storm ...". Here, in the second circle of Hell, those who have known forbidden love endure endless suffering, and the very shadow of Francesca tells Dante and his guide, the poet Virgil, about the cruel fate that befell her together with her beloved Paolo after their death. Now they are here, in hell captivity, in oppressive darkness, they will forever remain captives of eternal torment and eternal sorrow.

Vitale Sala __dante Paolo e Francesca (1823)

"Oh gentle and blissful living,
You who visited in the unspeakable darkness
Us, who have stained the earthly world with blood;

Whenever the king of the universe would be our friend,
We would pray that he would save you,
Sympathetic to the innermost torment. "

Dante, "The Divine Comedy". Translated by M.L. Lozinsky

Despite the fact that "the one who remembers happy times suffers with the highest torment," Francesca again recalls her story and tells it to Dante, accompanying the words with bitter tears.

Ary Scheffer (1795-1858) __ The Ghosts of Paolo and Francesca Appear to Dante and Virgil__ 1835
The appearance of the ghosts of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini in front of Dante and Virgil

She again sees how Paolo kisses her, and what a blissful feeling they experienced, confessing their love to each other, and how terribly they paid for it. She also knows that in spite of what she has done, Paolo will never fall out of love, even here in Hell, and he, her beloved, despite the storm and stormy rain, will never let go of his beloved Francesca ...

"The love that commands the beloved,
I was so imperiously attracted to him,
That this captivity you see unbreakable. "

Dante, "The Divine Comedy". Translated by M.L. Lozinsky

Sorry for the lovers ... Dante is great, but the son of his era. He did not identify the murderer, Giovanni as a "cripple" to sinners.

Pierre Claude Francois Delorme __Paolo e Francesca (1830)

Dante's story about Paolo and Francesca is a very small, but vivid and moving episode of the main work of his life, "The Divine Comedy". The poet himself could learn this sorrowful story from the mouth of Francesca's nephew - Guido Novello da Polenta, d.1323, Signor of Ravenna, who was a friend of Dante and with whom the poet found refuge in the last years of his life (in 1316? 1318-1321).

Castle of Gradara, today

A powerful family owned the castle for two centuries. One of its valiant representatives was the ruler of Rimini: the famous condottiere Sigismondo Pandolfo, who was called the "Wolf of Romagna". In 1464, representatives of another powerful family, the Sforza, attacked the family nest of Malatesta. The siege of Gradara lasted 42 days, and as a result, the former owners were forced to yield and surrender the castle to the victors. In 1493, the main part of the castle's decorations was completed. The order was given by the new owner, Giovanni Sforza.

Giovanni Paolo Sforza with the Sforza symbol

They were imbued with the spirit of romanticism, as the young lord really wanted to surprise his bride, notorious Lucretius Borgia.

My note: Lucrezia Borgia - the fatal lady of the Middle Ages.

The castle is currently owned by a private individual. He himself does not live there, but the staff of the castle will gladly introduce you to the sights of the medieval citadel. It will be possible to inspect the courtyard, the chambers of the former gentlemen, the state rooms and, of course, Francesca's bedroom with a secret passage through which her beloved Paolo did not have time to hide. Not only in the bedchamber of the deceased, but also in all the rooms of the palace, the atmosphere corresponding to the distant XIII century has been carefully recreated. A glossy altarpiece made of terracotta has been preserved in the chapel. Tourists also show considerable interest in the torture chambers hidden behind the thickness of the powerful castle walls.

Antoine Etex__Paolo and Francesca (1864)

"Kohl, lady, in your hands I will die,
I'm glad: I don't want to have
More worthy of honor than to die
Leaning towards you for a kiss. "

Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585),

I continue my little project "The Muses of the Pre-Raphaelites," especially since now I torment my students with these pictures. But nothing, let them join the world culture. Moreover, they seem to like it.

Today's collection is dedicated to Francesca from The Divine Comedy. Of course, Dante Gabriel Rossetti could not ignore such a topic.

Feuerbach

Original (thanks mlle_anais )
I "cominciai:" Poeta, volontieri
parlerei a quei due che "nsieme vanno,
e paion sì al vento esser leggieri ".

Ed elli a me: "Vedrai quando saranno
più presso a noi; e tu allor li priega
per quello amor che i mena, ed ei verranno ”.

Sì tosto come il vento a noi li piega,
mossi la voce: "O anime affannate,
venite a noi parlar, s "altri nol niega!"

Quali colombe dal disio chiamate
con l "ali alzate e ferme al dolce nido
vegnon per l "aere, dal voler portate;

Cotali uscir de la schiera ov "è Dido,
a noi venendo per l "aere maligno,
sì forte fu l "affettuoso grido.

"O animal grazioso e benigno
che visitando vai per l "aere perso
noi che tignemmo il mondo di sanguigno,

Se fosse amico il re de l "universo,
noi pregheremmo lui de la tua pace,
poi c "hai pietà del nostro mal perverso.

Di quel che udire e che parlar vi piace,
noi udiremo e parleremo a voi,
mentre che "l vento, come fa, ci tace.

Siede la terra dove nata fui
su la marina dove "l Po discende
per aver pace co "seguaci sui.

Amor, ch "al cor gentil ratto s" apprende
prese costui de la bella persona
che mi fu tolta; e "l modo ancor m" offende.

Amor, ch "a nullo amato amar perdona,
mi prese del costui piacer sì forte,
che, come vedi, ancor non m "abbandona.

Amor condusse noi ad una morte:
Caina attende chi a vita ci spense ".
Queste parole da lor ci fuor porte.

Quand "io intesi quell" anime offense,
china "il viso e tanto il tenni basso,
fin che "l poeta mi disse:" Che pense? "

Quando risposi, cominciai: "Oh lasso,
quanti dolci pensier, quanto disio
menò costoro al doloroso passo! "

Poi mi rivolsi a loro e parla "io,
e cominciai: “Francesca, i tuoi martiri
a lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio.

Ma dimmi: al tempo de "dolci sospiri,
a che e come concedette amore
che conosceste i dubbiosi disiri? "

E quella a me: "Nessun maggior dolore
che ricordarsi del tempo felice
ne la miseria; e ciò sa "l tuo dottore.

Ma s "a conoscer la prima radice
del nostro amor tu hai cotanto affetto,
dirò come colui che piange e dice.

Noi leggiavamo un giorno per diletto
di Lancialotto come amor lo strinse;
soli eravamo e sanza alcun sospetto.

Per più fiate li occhi ci sospinse
quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso;
ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse.

Quando leggemmo il disiato riso
esser basciato da cotanto amante,
questi, che mai da me non fia diviso,

La bocca mi basciò tutto tremante.
Galeotto fu "l libro e chi lo scrisse:
quel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante ".

Mentre che l "uno spirto questo disse,
l "altro piangea; sì che di pietade
io venni men così com "io morisse.
E caddi come corpo morto cade.

Dante Alighieri
73 I started like this: "I would like an answer
From these two, which are thrown together
And this storm is so easily carried away. "

76 And to me my leader: "Let the wind bend them
Closer to us; and let him pray with love
Their call is yours; they will interrupt the flight. "

79 Seeing that their wind does not allow us:
“O souls of sorrow!” I called out. “This way!
And respond, if He allows! "

82 Like doves to the sweet call of the nest,
Supported by the will of the carrier
Spreading their wings, they rush without difficulty,

85 So they, soaring in the oppressive darkness,
Left the Dido a mournful swarm
To my exclamation, calling me affably.

88 "O affectionate and blissful living,
You who visited in the unspeakable darkness
Us, who have stained the earthly world with blood;

91 Whenever the king of the universe would be our friend,
We would pray that he would save you,
Sympathetic to the innermost torment.

94 And if you have a conversation with us,
We are happy to speak and listen ourselves,
While the whirlwind is silent, as it is here now.

97 I was born over those shores
Where the waves are like a weary messenger
They meet Po with passing rivers.

100 Love burns tender hearts,
And he was captivated by an incomparable body,
Ruined so terribly at the hour of the end.

103 Love that commands loved ones,
I was so imperiously attracted to him,
That you see this captivity unbreakable.

106 Love together to death led us;
There will be a quencher in Cain today. "
Such speech flowed from their lips.

109 grieving shadows crushed spectator,
I bowed my head in anguish on my chest.
"What are you thinking about?" the teacher asked.

112 I started like this: "Oh, did anyone know
What bliss and what a dream
They were led on this bitter path! "

115 Then, turning a word to the silenced,
Said, "Francesca, your complaint
I will listen with tears, compassionate.

118 But tell me: between the sighs of tender days,
What was the science of love for you,
Who revealed to the ear the secret call of passions? "

121 And to me she: "He suffers from the highest torment,
Who remembers joyful times
In misery; your leader is a guarantee of that.

124 But if you know to the first grain
Unhappy love you are full of thirst,
I will scatter words and tears in full.

127 In our spare hour we read once
A sweet story about Lancelot;
We were alone, everyone was careless.

130 Above the book, the eyes met more than once,
And we turned pale with a secret shudder;
But then the story won over us.

133 We read a little about how he kissing
I clung to the smile of my dear mouth,
The one with whom I am bound forever by torment,

136 Kissed, trembling, my lips.
And the book became our Galeot!
None of us have finished reading the sheet. "

139 The spirit spoke, tormented by terrible oppression,
Another sobbed, and the anguish of their hearts
I covered my brow with mortal sweat;

142 And I fell like a dead man falls.

Alexandre Cabanel

Ary scheffer

Gaetano Prevati

Joseph noel paton

John keats
A Dream, After Reading Dante "s Episode Of Paolo And Francesca

As Hermes once took to his feathers light,
When lulled Argus, baffled, swooned and slept,
So on a Delphic reed, my idle spright
So played, so charmed, so conquered, so bereft
The dragon-world of all its hundred eyes;
And seeing it asleep, so fled away,
Not to pure Ida with its snow-cold skies,
Nor unto Tempe, where Jove grieved a day;
But to that second circle of sad Hell,
Where in the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw
Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell
Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw,
Pale were the lips I kissed, and fair the form
I floated with, about that melancholy storm.

John Keats
AFTER READING EXTRACT FROM DANTE
ABOUT PAOLO AND FRANCES

How he rushed to the heights with wings
Hermes, as soon as Argus was put to sleep,
So, inspired by the magic of the flute,
My spirit bound, broke and took in full
The standing monster of the universe
And he did not rush to the cold of heaven,
Not to the chaste, arrogant Ida,
Not to Tempe, where Zeus grieved, -
No, but there, to the second circle of hell,
Where sorrowful lovers languish
Heavy rain and an avalanche of hail,
And carried away by the whirlwind. Oh sorrowful kind

Lovely bloodless lips, oh beautiful face:
With me he is everywhere in the whirling of ill-fated darkness!
(Sergey Sukharev)

Amos cassioli

Most love stories are so banal that they recede into the past as soon as the bodies of the survivors are buried. But once the story gets a bloody denouement, it has every chance of becoming a legend. This happened with Romeo and Juliet, as well as with Paolo and Francesca, who will be discussed today.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the most influential dynasties of the Romagna region in Italy were Polenta and Malatesta. In 1239, a ruler named Malatesta da Verucchio lived in Rimini, and he had four children: the lame Giovanni, Malatestino, Paolo the Beautiful and Maddalena. The heads of the dynasties decided to strengthen the general victory in the war with Guido da Montefeltro Malatesta and da Polenta by marriage. According to the agreement, the eldest son of Malatesta, the crippled Giovanni, was to marry da Polenta's daughter Francesca. The girl's parents understood that she would not agree to marry a lame man, and went to the trick.

On the wedding day, a handsome young man, Paolo, Giovanni's younger brother, who was authorized to marry by his power of attorney, came to Francesca. The girl fell in love with the young man at first sight and agreed to become his wife. What was the grief of young Francesca when the deception was revealed. Moreover, it turned out that Paolo was already married to another by calculation. Love, commanding loved ones, I was so imperiously attracted to him, That you see this captivity indestructible.

Love together to death led us; In Cain there will be an extinguisher of our day. " Such speech flowed from their lips. After several years of unhappy marriage, Francesca gave birth to a daughter to her legal husband, and Paolo, appointed governor of Florence, became a frequent guest at the house of his older brother and his wife, in the castle of Gradara. During one of their secret meetings, Brother Malatestino found them and told about what he had seen to Giovanni. He, pretending to leave on business, suddenly returned to the castle and personally found the lovers Paolo and Francesca kissing. They read the love story of Lancelot and Guinevere and were so carried away that they kissed. It was at this moment that an angry Giovanni burst into the room. In our spare hour, we once read a sweet story About Lancelot We were alone, everyone was careless.

Above the book, eyes met more than once, And we turned pale with a secret shudder But then the story won us over. As soon as we read about how, with a kiss, he clung to the smile of his dear mouth, The one with whom I have been chained by torment forever, He kissed, trembling, my lips. And the book became our Galeot! None of us finished reading the sheet. Paolo wanted to run through the secret passage, but did not have time. Giovanni rushed at his brother with a knife, Francesca covered her lover with her and took a blow in the chest. In the end, both lovers were killed by Giovanni, blinded by jealousy. Legend also says that the restless soul of the unfortunate Francesca still wanders around the castle of Gradara during the full moon.

But if not for the great contemporary of Paolo and Francesca - Dante Alighieri - the legend of a couple in love could have remained a legend. But the poet placed them on the pages of his "Divine Comedy". So, traveling with Virgil in the circles of Hell, he met Francesca and Paolo in the second circle, where those who, during their lifetime, knew forbidden love, are serving a cruel, unreasonably punishment. Francesca's shadow, without leaving Paolo's passionate embrace, told the main character about their suffering in a hellish whirlwind. This romantic, albeit slightly banal plot of the Italian epic, reflected in the great work, inspired many artists and sculptors to recreate the images of Paolo and Francesca in love. In the iconographic tradition, they are depicted in several guises: while reading a love book, in a kiss, killed or already in Hell Dante Alighieri. In the most dramatic plots, Francesca's lawful, angry husband is also present.