About the work
Parisina is a tragedia lirica in four acts by Pietro Mascagni, set to a libretto that Gabriele D'Annunzio adapted from his own tragedy; the story of the lovers Ugo and Parisina, executed in Ferrara in 1425, had earlier been told in Byron's narrative poem Parisina (1816). After Puccini and Franchetti turned the commission down, Mascagni took it on in 1912; composer and poet worked together partly in Paris, trimming D'Annunzio's roughly 1,400 verses for the stage. Mascagni conducted the premiere on 15 December 1913 at La Scala in Milan.
Plot
At the court of the Renaissance ruler Nicolò d'Este in Ferrara, a forbidden love grows between his young wife Parisina and Ugo, his son from an earlier marriage. When the affair is discovered, Nicolò has both lovers executed.
Cultural significance
Running close to three and a half hours, the premiere — attended by Puccini, Boito and Zandonai — was felt to be too long, and critics called for cuts that Mascagni subsequently made; later stagings, such as the 1921 Rome production, were better received.