Act I. The scene is a court in the house of the Polentani, in Ravenna,

adjacent to a garden, whose bright colours are seen through a pierced marble screen. A colloquy between _Francesca's_ brother _Ostasio_ and the notary _Ser Toldo Berardengo_ informs us that for reasons of state, _Francesca_ is to be married to that one of the three sons of Malatesta da Verrucchio, who although named _Giovanni_, is known as _Gianciotto, the Lamester_, because of his deformity and ugliness. As _Francesca_ surely would refuse to marry _Gianciotto_, a plot has been formed by which she is introduced to his handsome younger brother _Paolo_, with whom, under the impression that he is her destined bridegroom, she falls deeply in love at first sight, a passion that is fully reciprocated by him, although they have only beheld each other, and not yet exchanged a word.

Such is the procedure of the first act. When _Francesca_ and _Paolo_ behold each other through the marble screen, which divides the court from the garden, in which _Paolo_ stands amid brightly coloured flowers, the orchestra intones a phrase which may properly be called the love motif.

[Music]

The act is largely lyric in its musical effect. Much charm is given to it by the quartette of women who attend upon _Francesca_. Almost at the outset the composer creates what might be called the necessary love mood, by a playful scene between _Francesca's_ women and a strolling jester, who chants for them the story of "Tristan und Isolde." The setting of the scene is most picturesque. In fact everything in this act tends to create "atmosphere," and were the rest of the opera as successful, it would be one of the finest works of its kind to have come out of modern Italy.