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“MATEO FALCONE”
By Prosper Mérimée
Mateo Falcone Author: Prosper Mérimée Introduction Sept. 28, 1803, Paris — died Sept. 23, 1870, Cannes, France A French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and master of the short story whose works — Romantic in theme but Classical and controlled in style — were a renewal of Classicism in a Romantic age. Story: Mateo Falcone This opera constitutes the last of three short serious operas by this composer, the other two being Feast in Time of Plague and Mademoiselle Fifi. “Mateo Falcone” addresses matters of family honor. It is set in Corsica in the seventeenth century in the region of Porto-Vecchio. Setting Mateo Falcone Characters Fortunato Falcone Mateo Falcone’s ten-year-old son. His father regards him as ‘‘the hope of the family.’’ The name Fortunato, meaning ‘‘the fortunate one,’’ reflects his father’s pride. cont. Introduction Story: Mateo Falcone Prosper Mérimée's "Mateo Falcone" (1829), originally subtitled "Les moeurs de Corse" ("The Ways of Corsica"), chronicles the killing of a ten-year-old boy by his father. Such contemporaries as Stendhal (Henri Beyle), Henry James, and Walter Pater admired Mérimée and praised him for his craft. Pater called "Mateo Falcone" "the cruellest story in the world." "Mateo Falcone" is a brief, but complex story. It features at least five points of view and at least four "ways of life" (the "moeurs" of the original subtitle). Mérimée's themes include betrayal and honor, savagery and civilization, vendetta and law, and custom and morality. A forty-eight-year-old father of three married daughters and one ten-year-old son; Giuseppa Falcone’s husband. Giuseppa Falcone Mateo Falcone's wife. Tiodoro Gamba The adjutant; a distant relative of Falcone’s. Gianetto Saupiero An outlaw. Exposition Plot Summary "Mateo Falcone” is set in Corsica in the seventeenth century in the region of Porto-Vecchio, which is midway between the town of Corte and the mâaquis, the wild country of the Corsican highlands
By Prosper Mérimée
Mateo Falcone Author: Prosper Mérimée Introduction Sept. 28, 1803, Paris — died Sept. 23, 1870, Cannes, France A French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and master of the short story whose works — Romantic in theme but Classical and controlled in style — were a renewal of Classicism in a Romantic age. Story: Mateo Falcone This opera constitutes the last of three short serious operas by this composer, the other two being Feast in Time of Plague and Mademoiselle Fifi. “Mateo Falcone” addresses matters of family honor. It is set in Corsica in the seventeenth century in the region of Porto-Vecchio. Setting Mateo Falcone Characters Fortunato Falcone Mateo Falcone’s ten-year-old son. His father regards him as ‘‘the hope of the family.’’ The name Fortunato, meaning ‘‘the fortunate one,’’ reflects his father’s pride. cont. Introduction Story: Mateo Falcone Prosper Mérimée's "Mateo Falcone" (1829), originally subtitled "Les moeurs de Corse" ("The Ways of Corsica"), chronicles the killing of a ten-year-old boy by his father. Such contemporaries as Stendhal (Henri Beyle), Henry James, and Walter Pater admired Mérimée and praised him for his craft. Pater called "Mateo Falcone" "the cruellest story in the world." "Mateo Falcone" is a brief, but complex story. It features at least five points of view and at least four "ways of life" (the "moeurs" of the original subtitle). Mérimée's themes include betrayal and honor, savagery and civilization, vendetta and law, and custom and morality. A forty-eight-year-old father of three married daughters and one ten-year-old son; Giuseppa Falcone’s husband. Giuseppa Falcone Mateo Falcone's wife. Tiodoro Gamba The adjutant; a distant relative of Falcone’s. Gianetto Saupiero An outlaw. Exposition Plot Summary "Mateo Falcone” is set in Corsica in the seventeenth century in the region of Porto-Vecchio, which is midway between the town of Corte and the mâaquis, the wild country of the Corsican highlands