Inspired by Canto V of the "Inferno" of Dante's "Divine Comedy", Tchaikovsky initially planned to create an opera on the subject but abandoned the idea in favor the present 25-minute fantasia for orchestra in 1876, fininshing the score on November 17th of that year. Bearing all the hallmarks of the composer's late romantic style, Francesca da Rimini takes full advantage of the powerful orchestral forces employed. The first performance was given on March 9, 1877 in Moscow, with the RMS Orchestra conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein. This newly engraved and researched edition prepared by which was first issued by E.F. Kalmus in 2012 using the pseudonym Howard K. Wolf and is now made available in a convenient size. The large conductor score and orchestral parts are available exclusively from Serenissima Music, Inc.