Organization

Tiroler Festspiele Erl

Conductor

Giuliano Carella

Stage director

Hans Walter Richter

Set designer

Johannes Leiacker

Costume designer

Raphaela Rose

Lighting designer

Jan Hartmann

Dramaturge

Mareike Wink

Singer

Soprano

Anna Nekhames

Francesca

Mezzo-soprano

Karolina Makuła

Paolo

Bass

Erik Van Heyningen

Guido

Karolina Bengtsson

Isaura

Tenor

Theo Lebow

Lanciotto

Francisco Brito

Guelfo

Others

Chorakademie der Tiroler Festspiele

Orchestra

Orchester der Tiroler Festspiele Erl

Choreographer

Gabriel Wanka

Francesca da Rimini

Austria

Das Festspielhaus

Public

Approved

To seal the dynastic alliance of two families, they had married. But the wife loves her husband's brother - a betrayal that ends in disaster. The inevitable tragedy of the passionate love story between Francesca da Polenta and Paolo Malatesta, as recorded by Dante in his Divina Commedia, prompted numerous artists to confront it. The librettist Felice Romani, with whom Saverio Mercadante worked again and again, was inspired by adaptations of the material to write a libretto. It was set to music in 1830. The score, in which Rossini's influence is still clearly audible, focuses on the three main characters Francesca, Paolo and Lanciotto. The encounter between brother-in-law and sister-in-law in their bedroom is the dramatic and emotional climax of the opera. Various unfortunate circumstances and rivalries between singers prevented Francesca da Rimini from being premiered during Mercadante's lifetime. So the opera had to wait almost 200 years for its first premiere, which took place in 2016 at the Festival della Valle d'Itria. Like his 58 stage works, the composer Saverio Mercadante has largely fallen into oblivion today. And this despite the fact that he initiated a reform of Italian opera after Rossini with his "canto drammatico", which inserted the vocal virtuosity into a dramatic overall arc. So the opera had to wait almost 200 years for its first premiere, which took place in 2016 at the Festival della Valle d'Itria. Like his 58 stage works, the composer Saverio Mercadante has largely fallen into oblivion today. And this despite the fact that he initiated a reform of Italian opera after Rossini with his "canto drammatico", which inserted the vocal virtuosity into a dramatic overall arc. So the opera had to wait almost 200 years for its first premiere, which took place in 2016 at the Festival della Valle d'Itria. Like his 58 stage works, the composer Saverio Mercadante has largely fallen into oblivion today. And this despite the fact that he initiated a reform of Italian opera after Rossini with his "canto drammatico", which inserted the vocal virtuosity into a dramatic overall arc.

English

Um das dynastische Bündnis zweier Familien zu besiegeln, hatten sie geheiratet. Doch die Ehefrau liebt den Bruder ihres Mannes – ein Treuebruch, der in der Katastrophe endet. Die unausweichliche Tragik der leidenschaftlichen Liebesgeschichte zwischen Francesca da Polenta und Paolo Malatesta, wie Dante sie in seiner Divina Commedia festhielt, veranlasste zahlreiche Künstler zu einer Auseinandersetzung. Auch der Librettist Felice Romani, mit dem Saverio Mercadante immer wieder zusammenarbeitete, ließ sich von Bearbeitungen des Stoffes zu einem Textbuch inspirieren. 1830 entstand seine Vertonung. Die Partitur, in der Rossinis Einfluss noch deutlich hörbar ist, fokussiert die drei Hauptfiguren Francesca, Paolo und Lanciotto. Das Zusammentreffen zwischen Schwager und Schwägerin in ihrem Schlafzimmer bildet den dramatischen und emotionalen Höhepunkt der Oper. Verschiedene unglückliche Umstände und Sängerrivalitäten verhinderten eine Uraufführung von Francesca da Rimini zu Mercadantes Lebzeiten. So musste die Oper fast 200 Jahre auf ihre erste Premiere, die 2016 beim Festival della Valle d’Itria stattfand, warten. Wie seine 58 Bühnenwerke ist auch der Komponist Saverio Mercadante heute weitgehend in Vergessenheit geraten. Und das, obwohl er mit seinem »canto drammatico«, welcher die Gesangsvirtuosität in einen dramatischen Gesamtbogen einfügte, eine Reform der italienischen Oper nach Rossini anstieß.

Deutsch

Francesca da Rimini by Mercadante, From (2022/2023), Directed by Hans Walter Richter,, Conductor Giuliano Carella, Das Festspielhaus, Erl, Austria

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues