Francesca da Rimini (Tchaikovsky)

In this fantasia, Tchaikovsky presents a symphonic interpretation of the tragic tale of Francesca da Rimini, a beauty who was immortalized in Dante's Divine Comedy.

In the fifth canto of Inferno, Dante the narrator meets the shade of Francesca da Rimini, a noblewoman who fell in love with the brother of her cruel husband.

"[7] Immediately before writing Francesca, Tchaikovsky heard and reviewed Liszt's Dante Symphony, which is inspired by the same story, praising many aspects but noting it had little invention.

[8] Contemporary critic Herman Laroche called Francesca "extraordinarily brilliant", noting that the "blinding play of the orchestral colors, inexhaustibly rich and incessantly changing, holds the listener from beginning to end as if held sway by some hallucination.

"[9] Later in his career, when he toured Europe conducting his work, Tchaikovsky regularly included Francesca in the program, for example in Paris in 1881,[10] Berlin in 1889,[11] and Cambridge in his last year of life.