Organization

Conductor

Ramón Tebar

Stage director

Hans Walter Richter

Set designer

Johannes Leiacker

Costume designer

Raphaela Rose

Lighting designer

Jan Hartmann

Chorus master

Tilman Michael

Dramaturge

Mareike Wink

Singer

Soprano

Jessica Pratt

Francesca

Mezzo-soprano

Kelsey Lauritano

Paolo

Tenor

Theo Lebow

Lanciotto

Bass

Eric van Heyningen

Guido

Karolina Bengtsson

Isaura

Gabriel Wanka

Dance

Annalisa Piccolo

Brian Michael Moore

Guelfo

Choreographer

Jonathan Abernethy

Anna Nekhames

Oper Frankfurt

Orchestra

Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester

Others

Choir of the Frankfurt Opera

Italian

Francesca da Rimini

Frankfurt am Main

Germany

Opernhaus

Francesca da Rimini Mercadante

Public

German

English

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, when Mercadante was staying in Madrid for the second time. 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 a world premiere of Francesca da Rimini during Mercadante's lifetime - first in Madrid, then also in Milan. 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 that despite the fact that from the late 1830s he initiated a reform of Italian opera after Rossini with his "canto drammatico", which incorporated vocal virtuosity into a dramatic overall arc.

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.

Im Jahr 1830, als Mercadante sich zum zweiten Mal für längere Zeit in Madrid aufhielt, 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 – zunächst in Madrid, dann auch in Mailand. So musste die Oper fast 200 Jahre auf ihre erste Premiere warten, die 2016 beim Festival della Valle d’Itria stattfand. Wie seine 58 Bühnenwerke ist auch der Komponist Saverio Mercadante heute weitgehend in Vergessenheit geraten. Und das, obwohl er ab den späten 1830er Jahren 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 (2023/2023), Directed by Hans Walter Richter,, Conductor Ramón Tebar, Opernhaus, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues