A Florentine Tragedy

Synopsis

A Florentine Tragedy is a fragment of a never-completed play by Oscar Wilde. The subject concerns Simone, a wealthy 16th-century Florentine merchant who finds his wife Bianca in the arms of a local prince, Guido Bardi. After feigning hospitality, Simone challenges the interloper to a duel, disarms him, and strangles him. This awakens the affection of his wife; and the two are reconciled. In 1914 the young Italian composer Carlo Ravasegna wrote a short opera "Una Tragedia Fiorentina" to a translation/libretto by Ettore Moschino. The libretto was published with Wilde's name by the Tipografia Subalpina, Turin, 1914. Alexander von Zemlinsky wrote an opera based on a German translation of the play, entitled Eine florentinische Trag?die, which premiered in 1917.

Similar Bookshelves

Drama    Tragedy