Leopold Stokowski - Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini

Tchaikovsky wrote his Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48 between September 21 and November 4, 1880, during an unusual phase of relaxation. He had spent a great deal of time that year studying Mozart's work. The following lines to Nadezhda von Meck witness the joy with which he composed the serenade: "I wrote as if possessed. This work comes straight from the heart and is not without artistic value, if I dare say so myself." The orchestral Francesca da Rimini makes a far different impression on the listener than the string serenade. This is a true tone poem, presenting pure program music. Above the score, Tchaikvosky placed the episode from the fifth song of the "inferno" from Dante's Commedia Divina. This depicts the unhappy, forbidden love of Francesca da Rimini for the brother of her husband Gianciotto, which ends tragically when he discovers Francesca and his brother Paolo in the act of kissing and kills them both.