View source for Fédora

{{For|the opera adapted from this play|Fedora (opera)}}
{{Italic title}}
[[File:Sarah Bernhardt - Foedora.png|thumb|[[Sarah Bernhardt]] in ''Fédora'']]
'''''Fédora''''' is a play by the French author [[Victorien Sardou]]. It opened at the [[Théâtre du Vaudeville]] in Paris on 11 December 1882,<ref name=ns>Noël, Edouard and Philippe Stoullig. [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9674770h/f327 Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1882], p. 245</ref> and ran for 135 performances.<ref> [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k281593c/f2 "Le succès au théâtre"], ''Le Figaro'', 23 August 1891, p. 2</ref> The first production starred [[Sarah Bernhardt]].<ref name=ns/> She wore a soft felt hat in that role which was soon a popular fashion for women; the hat became known as a [[fedora]].<ref>Marciano, John Bemelmans. 2009. ''Anonyponymous: the forgotten people behind everyday words''. New York: Bloomsbury USA. p. 65. {{ISBN|9781596916531}}</ref>

The premiere was headline news in Paris. ''[[Le Figaro]]'' devoted its whole front page to it in addition to further coverage inside.<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k278414c/f1.item.zoom "Fédora"], ''Le Figaro'', pp. 1–2, 12 December 1882</ref> The Paris correspondent of ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'' called Bernhardt's performance as Princess Fédora Romazoff "magnificent throughout … the most brilliant of her remarkable career".<ref name=era>"The Drama in Paris", ''The Era'', 16 December 1882, p. 5</ref> [[Pierre Berton (playwright)|Pierre Berton]] 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".<ref name=era/>

In one scene Fédora weeps over the body of her murdered lover. The deceased needed only to lie still, and Parisian men of fashion took to spending one evening each as the distinguished corpse. [[Edward VII|Albert Edward, Prince of Wales]] took a turn, delighting the city.<ref>Cowles, Virginia. Gay Monarch: The Life and Pleasures of Edward VII. New York: Harper and Row, p. 59.</ref>

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|Gaiety Theatre]], London. Berton again played Loris.<ref>"Theatre", ''Pall Mall Gazette'', 12 July 1883, pp. 3–4</ref>

The play was turned into an opera, [[Fedora (opera)|''Fedora'']], by [[Umberto Giordano]] in 1898.<ref>Budden, Julian. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000901580 "Fedora"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 September 2021 {{subscription required}}</ref>

==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''.<ref name=era/>

==Films==
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|Princess Romanoff|it}}'', directed by [[Frank Powell]] (1915), starring [[Nance O'Neil]]<!--May 1915-->
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|Fedora (1916 film)|it|3=Fedora (film 1916)|lt=Fedora}}'', directed by [[Gustavo Serena]] (Italy, 1916), starring [[Francesca Bertini]]<!--December 1916-->
*''[[White Nights (1916 film)|White Nights]]'', directed by [[Alexander Korda]] (Austria-Hungary, 1916), starring [[Lili Berky]]<!--27 December 1916-->
*''[[Fedora (1918 film)|Fedora]]'', directed by [[Edward José]] (1918), starring [[Pauline Frederick]]<!--August 4, 1918-->
*''[[Fedora (1926 film)|Fedora]]'', directed by [[Jean Manoussi]] (Germany, 1926), starring [[Lee Parry]]<!--6 May 1926-->
*''[[The Woman from Moscow]]'', directed by [[Ludwig Berger (director)|Ludwig Berger]] (1928), starring [[Pola Negri]]<!--November 3, 1928-->
*''[[Fedora (1934 film)|Fedora]]'', directed by [[Louis J. Gasnier]] (France, 1934), starring [[Marie Bell]]<!--23 March 1934-->
*''[[Fedora (1942 film)|Fedora]]'', directed by [[Camillo Mastrocinque]] (Italy, 1942), starring [[Luisa Ferida]]<!--7 October 1941-->
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|El precio de una vida|es}}'', directed by [[Adelqui Migliar]] (Argentina, 1947), starring [[Mecha Ortiz]]<!--23 October 1947-->

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://archive.org/details/fedoralyricdrama06gior Fedora; a lyric drama in three acts by V. Sardou]

{{Victorien Sardou}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fedora (Play)}}
[[Category:1882 plays]]
[[Category:Plays by Victorien Sardou]]


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