Significant French Operas
Titles beginning with R
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La Reine Fiammette
Opera in 4 acts & 6 scenes
Music by Xavier Leroux
Libretto by Catulle Mendès
First Performance: Opéra-Comqiue, Paris, 23 December 1903
Cast:
Background
Synopsis
A
military adventurer, Giorgio d'Asti, meets the Cardinal Cesare Sforza,
who offers him the throne if he will rid the country of Queen Orlanda.
Together they concoct a clever plot for the assassination of the queen.
A youth, Danielo, is chosen as the fittest instrument. At first Danielo
refuses to listen, as he is unwilling to kill a woman. But Sforza
prevails upon him by telling him a mendacious story to the effect that
his brother had been murdered at the instigation of the queen. Then he
is given a dagger and speeded on his mission of death.
The queen, ignorant of the plot, is meanwhile greatly enjoying
herself in a Clarissian convent, where she has been admitted under the
pseudonym of Helena. and it is there she meets Danielo. Instantly they
fall in love with each other, neither being aware of the purposes or
identity of the other. At last, though, Danielo discovers who it is he
has learned to love. The discovery unmans him. He is handed over to the
tribunal of Franciscan friars. Queen Orlanda, abdicating in order to
save her lover's life, is herself condemned as a heretic. But the two
lovers are nevertheless united in death. The same axe strikes both.
Libretto
Links
Last updated: January 22, 2008