Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:
Francesca da Rimini, symphonic fantasy for orchestra in E minor, Op. 32, TH 46, ČW 43 (with Score)
Composed: 1876
Conductor: Mikhail Pletnev
Orchestra: Russian National Orchestra
00:00 Andante lugubre
04:28 Allegro vivo
09:39 Andante cantabile non troppo
20:06 Allegro vivo
In 1876, Tchaikovsky was persuaded by a literary critic and friend from his conservatory days, Hermann Laroche, to write an opera based on a tale in Dante's Divine Comedy about Paolo and Francesca of Rimini. The story intrigued Tchaikovsky: Francesca and Paolo are lost souls in hell, owing to their adulterous affair (which was an actual historical event). The affair grew out of the latter's efforts to secure Francesca's hand in marriage, not for himself but for his unattractive hunchback brother, Gianciotto, who, after his marriage to Francesca, catches the pair in lovemaking and has them executed. Francesca narrates the circumstances of their painful afterlife in Dante's poetic account.
Plans for the opera fell through, however, and Tchaikovsky, at the behest of his brother Modest, wrote this symphonic fantasy inspired by the story. The dark opening, marked Andante lugubre, depicts the mood and scenery at the doorway to Hell, above which an inscription reads, "Abandon all hope, you who enter here." Tchaikovsky brilliantly captures the sounds and imagery associated with the whirlwind that carries lost souls, including Francesca and Paolo. The music here is agitated, with the strings swirling angrily and a sense of desperation permeating the awful feeling of ineluctable descent. The Allegro vivo marking here may well be a deliberately ironic choice by the composer, for the vivo derivatives of "spirited" and "lively" are hardly appropriate to this frenzied grimness.
After this section is presented a second time, Tchaikovsky introduces a tranquil but yearning love theme on clarinet. Why is such a lovely melody emerging from these hellish environs? Francesca's first words in her narration are, "There is no greater pain than happiness recalled in a time of misery." The strings take up the beautiful melody and the mood of sweet regret almost makes the listener forget the dark character of the preceding section.
Eventually the whirlwind music from the opening returns to depict the lovers being swept up again, perpetuating their chastisement of seeing but never communicating or touching each other. The music ends in dramatic fashion, as ten emphatic chords, punctuated by the crashing gong, bring the work to rousing, chilling conclusion. (www.allmusic.com/composition/...)
26 июл 2024
