The Jester's Supper (Italian:La cena delle beffe) is a historical play by the Italian writer Sem Benelli, which was first staged in 1909.
In 1910 Sara Bernardht played in "La Beffa" (adapted by Jean Richepin) the role of Gianetto Malespini.
In 1919 the play was put on in New York City, under the name The Jest, at Broadway's Plymouth Theatre. [1] It portrays a violent and cruel rivalry in the Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
The play was the basis for an opera La cena delle beffe composed by Umberto Giordano with a libretto written by Benelli himself. It premiered at La Scala on 20 December 1924.
In 1942 the play was adapted as a film, The Jester's Supper , directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Amedeo Nazzari and Osvaldo Valenti. [2] It was made at Cinecittà in Rome. The film was a popular success.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1909.
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Sem Benelli was an Italian playwright, essayist and librettist. He provided the texts for several noted Italian operas, including Italo Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re and L'incantesimo, and Umberto Giordano's La cena delle beffe, based on Benelli's own play of the same title. He was a native of Prato. His dramatic play of La Gorgona was first staged in Trieste in 1913.
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Osvaldo Valenti was an Italian film actor. Valenti starred in several successful Italian movies of the late 1930s and early 1940s, such as the famous The Iron Crown and The Jester's Supper. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1928 and 1945. He and his lover, Luisa Ferida, were executed by partisans in Milan, Italy, due to their links with Fascism. Their story was portrayed in the 2008 film Wild Blood.
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La cena delle beffe is an opera in four acts composed by Umberto Giordano to an Italian libretto by Sem Benelli adapted from his 1909 play of the same name. The opera premiered on 20 December 1924 at La Scala. Milan. The story, set in Florence at the time of Lorenzo de' Medici, recounts the rivalry between Giannetto Malespini and Neri Chiaramantesi for the affections of the beautiful Ginevra and Giannetto's thirst for revenge over a cruel joke played on him by Neri and his brother Gabriello. Giannetto's revenge "joke" ultimately leads Neri to murder both Ginevra and his own brother. The opera ends with Neri's descent into madness.
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The Jester's Supper is a 1942 Italian historical film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Amedeo Nazzari, Osvaldo Valenti and Clara Calamai. It was based on a play of the same title by Sem Benelli, which had later been turned into an opera by Umberto Giordano. Like the play, the film is set in the 15th century Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent and portrays a rivalry that leads to a series of increasingly violent practical jokes.
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