''Fédora'' is a play by the French author

Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 18318 November 1908) was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-centur ...

. It opened at the

Théâtre du Vaudeville The Théâtre du Vaudeville was a theatre company in Paris. It opened on 12 January 1792 on rue de Chartres. Its directors, Piis and Barré, mainly put on "petites pièces mêlées de couplets sur des airs connus", including vaudevilles. Af ...

in Paris on 11 December 1882,Noël, Edouard and Philippe Stoullig
Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1882
p. 245 and ran for 135 performances. The first production starred

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...

. She wore a soft felt hat in that role which was soon a popular fashion for women; the hat became known as a

fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...

. The premiere was headline news in Paris. ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'' devoted its whole front page to it in addition to further coverage inside. The Paris correspondent of '' The Era'' called Bernhardt's performance as Princess Fédora Romazoff "magnificent throughout … the most brilliant of her remarkable career"."The Drama in Paris", ''The Era'', 16 December 1882, p. 5

Pierre Berton Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, CC, O.Ont. (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a Canadian writer, journalist and broadcaster. Berton wrote 50 best-selling books, mainly about Canadiana, Canadian history and popular culture. He also wr ...

played Loris Ipanoff, the only other major role, and was highly praised. ''The Era'' commented, "The other ''rôles'' are less than subsidiary. They are filled faultlessly by MM. Colombey, Tchileff; Vois, the Attaché; Boisselot, Michel; Mdlles. De Cléry and Depoix". In July 1883 Bernhardt led her company in ''Fédora'' as the final production in a series of French plays given at the Gaiety Theatre, London. Berton again played Loris. The play was turned into an opera, ''Fedora'', by

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina ...

in 1898.Budden, Julian
"Fedora"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 September 2021

Synopsis

Princess Fédora Romazoff is secretly engaged to marry Count Vladimir Yariskin, the son of the St Petersburg police chief. Vladimir is found mortally wounded, presumably in an anarchist attack, and Fédora vows vengeance on the known perpetrator, Count Loris Ipanoff. Loris has fled to Paris, where Fédora seeks him out. Not knowing that she was engaged to the dead man he admits to killing Vladimir, but calls it "the execution of a sentence". He refuses to explain further. Fédora sends a letter to St Petersburg incriminating Loris's brother in Vladimir's murder. After she has sent it, Loris explains that the killing was not a political assassination but the punishment of a moral outrage: Vladimir was having an affair with Loris's wife. He caught them together and shot Vladimir; the wife escaped but died of pneumonia within days. Fedora now sees that Loris has saved her from marrying a villain. She realised that she loves Loris and he loves her. Fedora's letter has meanwhile arrived in St. Petersburg, leading to the arrest and death in prison of Loris's brother. His mother has died of a broken heart. Fédora confesses to Loris that it was she who incriminated his brother. He renounces her; she takes poison and dies in his arms. :Source: ''The Era''.

Films

*', directed by

Frank Powell Frank Powell (born Francis William Powell, May 8, 1877) was a Canadian-born stage and silent film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter who worked predominantly in the United States."Ontario Births, 1869-1912", digital copy of original h ...

(1915), starring

Nance O'Neil Gertrude Lamson (October 8, 1874 – February 7, 1965), known professionally as Nance O'Neil or Nancy O'Neil, was an American stage and film actress who performed in plays in various theaters around the world but worked predominantly in the Unite ...

*', directed by

Gustavo Serena Gustavo Serena (5 October 1881 – 16 April 1970) was an Italian actor and film director. He appeared in 107 films between 1909 and 1961. He also directed 33 films between 1912 and 1932. He was born in Naples and died in Rome. Selected fil ...

(Italy, 1916), starring

Francesca Bertini Francesca Bertini (born Elena Seracini Vitiello; 5 January 1892 – 13 October 1985) was an Italian silent film actress. She was one of the most successful silent film stars in the first quarter of the twentieth-century. Biography Born in Pra ...

*''

White Nights White night, White Night, or White Nights may refer to: * White night (astronomy), a night in which it never gets completely dark, at high latitudes outside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles * White Night festivals, all-night arts festivals held in ...

'', directed by

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)Lili Berky Lili Berky (born Amália Terézia Berky) was a Hungarian actress. She was born on 15 March 1886 in Győr, Austria-Hungary, and died on 5 February 1958. She was married to Gyula Gózon. Selected filmography * '' The Yellow Foal'' (1913) * ''Whi ...

*''

Fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...

'', directed by

Edward José Edward José (5 July 1865 – 18 December 1930) was a Belgian film director and actor of the silent era. He directed 42 films between 1915 and 1925. He also performed in 12 films between 1910 and 1916.Pauline Frederick Pauline Frederick (born Pauline Beatrice Libbey, August 12, 1883 – September 19, 1938) was an American stage and film actress. Early life Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libbey (later changed to Libby) in Boston in 1883 (some sources stat ...

*''

'', directed by

Jean Manoussi Jean Manoussi (14 November 1868 - 21 December 1929) was a French dramatist, film director and screenwriter. Jean Manoussi has written several theatre plays in collaboration with playwrights such as Paul Armont, Marcel Gerbidon or Gabriel Ti ...

(Germany, 1926), starring

Lee Parry Lee Parry (born Mathilde Charlotte Benz, 14 January 1901 – 24 January 1977) was a German film actress of the silent era. She appeared in more than 40 films between 1919 and 1939. Biography Lee Parry was born Mathilde Charlotte Benz on 14 Jan ...

*''

The Woman from Moscow ''The Woman from Moscow'' is a 1928 American drama film starring Pola Negri. This was Negri's last silent film released with musical score and sound effects. The picture is a remake of Paramount's 1918 Pauline Frederick film '' Fedora'', based ...

'', directed by Ludwig Berger (1928), starring

Pola Negri Pola Negri (; born Apolonia Chalupec ; 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer. She achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme ...

*', directed by

Louis J. Gasnier Louis Joseph Gasnier (September 15, 1875 – February 15, 1963) was a French-American film director, producer, screenwriter and stage actor. A cinema pioneer, Gasnier shepherded the early career of comedian Max Linder, co-directed the enormously ...

(France, 1934), starring Marie Bell *''

'', directed by

Camillo Mastrocinque Camillo Mastrocinque (11 May 1901 – 23 April 1969) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed more than 60 films between 1937 and 1968, and is known to horror film fans for directing '' Terror in the Crypt'' (1964) starring ...

(Italy, 1942), starring

Luisa Ferida Luisa Ferida, real surname Manfrini, (18 March 1914 – 30 April 1945) was an Italian stage and film actress. She was one of divas in Italian cinema during decade 1935-1945 and she was the highest paid movie star of that period. The actress w ...

*', directed by

Adelqui Migliar Adelqui Migliar (5 August 1891 – 6 August 1956), also known as Adelqui Millar, was a Chilean film actor, director, writer and producer. He appeared in 31 silent films between 1916 and 1928. He also directed 24 films between 1922 and 1954. ...

(Argentina, 1947), starring

Mecha Ortiz Mecha Ortiz (née María Mercedes Varela Nimo Domínguez Castro; 1900–1987) was a classic Argentine actress who appeared in film between 1937 and 1981, during the Golden Age of Argentine Cinema. At the 1944 Argentine Film Critics Association A ...

References

External links

Fedora; a lyric drama in three acts by V. Sardou
1882 plays Plays by Victorien Sardou {{1880s-play-stub