Editing Historical fiction (section)

===The theatre===
====History plays====
{{main|History (theatrical genre)}}
History is one of the three main genres in Western [[theatre]] alongside [[tragedy]] and [[comedy]], although it originated, in its modern form, thousands of years later than the other primary genres.<ref name=howard>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PkDccFRob5IC&pg=PA135 |title=Other Voices, Other Views: Expanding the Canon in English Renaissance Studies |access-date=2014-08-07|isbn=9780874136807 |last1=Ostovich |first1=Helen |last2=Silcox |first2=Mary V |last3=Roebuck |first3=Graham |year=1999 |publisher=University of Delaware Press }}</ref> For this reason, it is often treated as a subset of tragedy.<ref name=moarribner>{{cite journal| title = Marlowe's Edward II and the Tudor History Play| first= Irving| last = Ribner | journal = ELH| volume =  22| number = 4 | date = December 1955| pages =  243–253| publisher  = The Johns Hopkins University Press| jstor = 2871887| doi= 10.2307/2871887}}</ref> A play in this genre is known as a [[history (theatrical genre)|history play]] and is based on a [[Narrative history|historical narrative]], often set in the medieval or early modern past. History emerged as a distinct genre from tragedy in [[English Renaissance theatre|Renaissance England]].<ref name=ribner>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l0LHz_Eki_IC&pg=PR9 |title=The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare|author=Irving Ribner |access-date=2014-08-07|isbn=9780415353144|year=1965|publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref> The best known examples of the genre are the [[Shakespearean history|history plays]] written by [[William Shakespeare]], whose plays still serve to define the genre.<ref name = degroot12>de Groot, 11-13</ref> Shakespeare wrote numerous history plays, some included in the [[First Folio]] as histories, and other listed as [[Shakespearean tragedy|tragedies]], or Roman plays. Among the most famous histories are ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', and ''[[Henry IV, Part 1]]'', ''[[Henry IV, Part 2]]'', and ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]''. Other plays that feature historical characters, are the tragedy ''[[Macbeth]]'', set in the mid-11th century during the reigns of [[Duncan I of Scotland]] and [[Edward the Confessor]], and the Roman plays ''[[Coriolanus]]'', ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', and ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''. Another tragedy ''[[King Lear]]'', is based on British [[legend]], as is the [[Shakespeare's late romances|romanc]] ''Cymbeline, King of Britain'', which is set in Ancient Britain.

Other playwrights contemporary to Shakespeare, such as [[Christopher Marlowe]], also dramatized historical topics.<ref name = degroot12/> Marlowe wrote ''[[Edward II (play)|Edward the Second]]'' which deals with the deposition of King [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] by his barons and the Queen, who resent the undue influence the king's favourites have in court and state affairs, and ''[[The Massacre at Paris]]'', which dramatizes the events of the [[Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre]] in France in 1572.<ref>Wilson, Richard (2004). "Tragedy, Patronage and Power". in Cheney, Patrick, 2007, p. 207</ref> Marlowe's ''[[Tamburlaine the Great]]'' (1587 or 1588) is a play in two parts, loosely based on the life of the [[Central Asia]]n emperor, [[Timur]] "the lame".

History plays also appear elsewhere in other western literature. The German authors [[Goethe]] and [[Schiller]] wrote a number of historical plays, including Goethe's ''[[Egmont (play)|Egmont]]'' (1788), which is set in the 16th century, and is heavily influenced by Shakespearean tragedy, and Schiller's ''[[Mary Stuart (Schiller play)|Mary Stuart]]'', which depicts the last days of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]] (1800). This play formed the basis for [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]]'s opera ''[[Maria Stuarda]]'' (1834). Beethoven [[Egmont (Beethoven)|wrote incidental music]] for ''Egmont''.

Later Irish author [[George Bernard Shaw]] wrote several histories, including ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (play)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'' (1898) and ''[[Saint Joan (play)|Saint Joan]]'', which based on the life and trial of [[Joan of Arc]]. Published in 1924, not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. One of the most famous 20th-century history plays is ''[[The Life of Galileo]]'' by [[Bertolt Brecht]] which dramatises the latter period of the life of [[Galileo Galilei]], the great [[Italians|Italian]] [[natural philosopher]], who was persecuted by the [[Roman Catholic Church]] for the promulgation of his scientific discoveries; for details, see [[Galileo affair]]. The play embraces such themes as the conflict between [[dogmatism]] and [[Science|scientific evidence]], as well as interrogating the values of constancy in the face of oppression.

More recently British dramatist [[Howard Brenton]] has written several histories. He gained notoriety for his play ''[[The Romans in Britain]]'', first staged at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] in October 1980, which drew parallels between the Roman invasion of Britain in 54BC and the contemporary British military presence in [[Northern Ireland]]. Its concerns with politics were, however, overshadowed by controversy surrounding a rape scene. Brenton also wrote ''Anne Boleyn'' a play on the life of [[Anne Boleyn]], which premiered at [[Shakespeare's Globe]] in 2010. Anne Boleyn is portrayed as a significant force in the political and religious in-fighting at court and a furtherer of the cause of [[Protestantism]] in her enthusiasm for the [[Tyndale Bible]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/anne-boleyn-shakespeares-globe-london-2315856.html |title=Michael Coveney, The Independent, 19 July 2011 |website=[[Independent.co.uk]] |date=18 July 2011 |access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-date=23 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723023113/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/anne-boleyn-shakespeares-globe-london-2315856.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Opera====
{{main|grand opera|opera}}
One of the first operas to use historical events and people is [[Claudio Monteverdi]]'s [[L'incoronazione di Poppea]], which was first performed in [[Venice]] during the 1643 carnival season. it describes how Poppaea, mistress of the Roman [[emperor Nero]], is able to achieve her ambition and be crowned empress. The opera was revived in Naples in 1651, but was then neglected until the rediscovery of the score in 1888, after which it became the subject of scholarly attention in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 1960s, the opera has been performed and recorded many times. [[George Frederick Handel]] also wrote several operas based on historical characters, including ''[[Giulio Cesare]]'' (1724), ''[[Tamerlano]]'' (1724) and ''[[Rodelinda (opera)|Rodelinda]]'' (1725).

Historical subjects for operas also developed during the 19th century. Usually with 4 or 5 acts, they are large-scale casts and orchestras, and spectacular staging. Several operas by [[Gaspare Spontini]], [[Luigi Cherubini]], and [[Gioachino Rossini]] can be regarded as precursors to French [[grand opera]]. These include Spontini's ''[[La vestale]]'' (1807) and ''[[Fernand Cortez]]'' (1809, revised 1817), Cherubini's ''[[Les Abencérages]]'' (1813), and Rossini's ''[[Le siège de Corinthe]]'' (1827) and ''[[Mosè in Egitto|Moïse et Pharaon]]'' (1828). All of these have some of the characteristics of size and spectacle that are normally associated with French grand opera. Another important forerunner was ''[[Il crociato in Egitto]]'' by [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]], who eventually became the acknowledged king of the grand opera genre. Amongst the most important opera composers on historical topics are [[Giuseppe Verdi]], and [[Richard Wagner]].

Russian composers also wrote operas based on historical figures, including ''[[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]'' by [[Modest Mussorgsky]] (1839–1881), which was composed between 1868 and 1873, and is considered his masterpiece.<ref>Calvocoressi, Abraham (1974: pp. 98, 138){{full citation needed|date=October 2023}}</ref><ref>Brown (1986: p 31)</ref> Its subjects are the Russian ruler [[Boris Godunov]], who reigned as [[Tsar]] (1598 to 1605). Equally famous is [[Alexander Borodin]]'s ''[[Prince Igor]]'', the libretto for which the composer developed from the Ancient Russian [[epic (genre)|epic]] ''The Lay of Igor's Host'', which recounts the campaign of [[Rus' (people)|Rus]] prince [[Igor Svyatoslavich]] against the invading [[Cuman]] ("Polovtsian") tribes in 1185.<ref>Abraham, G. and Lloyd-Jones, D. (1986) "Alexander Borodin" in Brown, D. (ed.) The New Grove: Russian Masters 1, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., pp. 45–76.</ref>