Peter Tchaikovsky composed the fantasia Francesca da Rimini in October and November 1876. The work is based on a part of Dante's La Divina Commedia, the fifth canto of Inferno. The first perfomance of Francesca da Rimini in Moscow on 25 February 1877 at the Tenth Symphony Concert of the Russian Musical Society was conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein. The work is dedicated to Sergei Taneiev. In 1886 it was awarded the Glinka Prize. The present edition, prepared by the Russian composer and musicologist Viktor Ekimovsky, is based on earlier publications and contains editorial comments with regard to printing errors and slips of the composer's pen.