Teatro Regionale Toscano
In the 1981-1982 theater season, director and actor Franco Branciaroli staged Ballata sull’amore e sulla morte dell’alfiere Cristoforo Rilke. Produced by the Teatro Regionale Toscano and the Teatro Comunale Metastasio in Prato, it is an adaptation of a text by the late-Gothic and neo-Liberty poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Rilke identifies with his ancestor Cristoforo, an Austro-imperial standard-bearer who fell on the battlefields of Hungary in the 17th century, and through him relives a story marked by hardship, by the warrior’s wounds and by the brief and difficult loves of an unhappy paladin.
The show premiered at the Rondò di Bacco in Florence on January 15, 1982; it is a production for narrating voice and accompanying music, reminiscent of Bene’s Manfred , whose influence would decisively mark Andrea Pazienza’s later work.
The music is by Fabio De Boni, while the sets are by Roberto Liorni, who based his work on drawings Pazienza made for the occasion.
Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to find photos or other visual and graphic material from the productions of the play.
