In Count Vladimir's St. Petersburg house, the servants gossip that Vladimir won't be back until dawn; he is celebrating his last night of freedom before marrying the rich Fedora, just in time to pay his debts. Fedora herself enters, saying she has been waiting for him. They send a servant to his club to look for him, and she examines a portrait, contemplating his eyes "glowing with fidelity" ("O grand'occhi lucenti di fede"). De Seriex, Grech, and servants help Vladimir in, gravely wounded. They take him into his bedroom, and Grech questions the servants. Cirillo describes hearing shots and seeing a man run past, dripping blood; then he found Vladimir wounded. Dmitri, a very young servant, remembers a man coming in and leaving without seeing Vladimir. Fedora grandly declares that he must be the culprit, and, on the cross she wears, she vows to avenge him. Dmitri finally remembers the man's name, Loris Ipanov, and Grech sends the police to his house, just across the street. Fedora watches intently, screaming for them to catch him, and a servant emerges to tell them that Vladimir is dead. Grech returns, reporting that Loris had already left. Fedora collapses.
Act Two
In her luxurious Parisian house, Fedora is giving a party. Olga flirts, declaring that politics are her passion, and de Seriex is surprised to see Loris there. Fedora tells him that she has caught the attention of Loris and intends to entice a confession out of him, though she admits that "perhaps" she has fallen in love herself. Boroff warns Loris against Fedora, but he declares that he is madly in love. Fedora says that she has substituted a cure for every ill in the reliquary case of her cross. Olga presents a pianist, Lazinski, as the next Chopin. When Olga snubs him, de Seriex calls her a Cossack, and she declares herself offended. He defends himself with a laughing tribute to Russian women ("La donna russa e femmina due volte"), angel and serpent, self-sacrificing and treacherous, and he greets Olga as the ideal. Fedora flirts with Loris ("Ma, dunque, è amore"), who responds that Love itself forbids her not to love him ("Amor ti vieta"). She says she is returning to Russia tomorrow, and he is stricken, since as an exile, he cannot return. She says she will ask the Czar for a pardon for him. As Lazinski plays, she asks for details of his crime, telling him to prove his innocence for her sake. He admits that he did kill Vladimir and says that he will return that night with proof of his moral innocence. De Seriex receives a dispatch saying that the Nihilists attempted to assassinate the Czar, and the party breaks up, with Grech and the police remaining. Fedora sends a letter to Yariskin, Vladimir's father and the Chief of Police, saying that Loris has confessed, and adds that his brother was an accomplice. They plan to abduct him to take him back to Russia when he leaves her house that night: a whistle will signal they are ready outside. They leave, and Loris returns. He tells her that he killed Vladimir over his wife ("Mia madre, la mia vecchia madre"). His mother had hired a companion, Wanda, who seduced him into a secret marriage. He was blissfully oblivious that she was betraying him with his own best man, Vladimir, until he found a letter arranging for a rendezvous. Fedora refuses to believe it until he gives her the note, in which Vladimir referred to his marriage as being made for money. She exclaims in anger, and Loris adds that he burst in upon them, that Vladimir fired at him but just wounded him, and that he killed him. Now he laments that he is an exile and will never see his family again ("Vedi, io piango"). She now declares that she loves him and will make up for his losses, and when she hears the signal, she asks him to stay the night.
Act Three
Offstage, at Fedora's Switzerland villa, peasants sing of the arriving spring ("Dice la capinera"). Fedora and Loris declare their love and kiss. Olga enters and informs them that the whole world bores her. Loris goes to fetch his mail, and de Seriex enters. He teases Olga about Lazinski, and then tells her Lazinski was a spy. She quickly recovers from the shock, and he suggests a bicycle ride. She happily goes off to change, and he turns to Fedora, telling her he really came for her sake. He explains ("Cade per l'empia sua crudeltà") that when her letter reached Yariskin, Loris' brother was being held in an underground fortress, which flooded, drowning him. At the shock of hearing the news, their mother died as well. Olga returns, and de Seriex leads her away. Alone, Fedora prays for Loris ("Dio di giustizia"). He returns, first reading a letter from Boroff saying that he has been pardoned. He bursts out with joy at the thought of being able to return to his family and to marry Fedora, but she is silent. The next letter brings him the news of the disaster ("Jariskin reco all'Imperatore"), also telling him of the letter from an unknown Russian woman in Paris that declared him and his brother proven guilty. He breaks down in grief but then declares they will go to Paris to find his hidden enemy. Fedora begs him instead to forgive that woman ("Forse con te li piange"), who perhaps is overwhelmed with grief and guilt. He angrily refuses, and at her continued pleading, he realizes she is the informer. He throws himself on her in rage, and she breaks away and drinks the poison from her cross. Fedora pleads again for Loris' forgiveness, which he finally grants. Whispering that she loves him, she dies.
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