The Trials of Galileo
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Trials of Galileo is an opera-oratorio, copyrighted in 1967, with libretto in English by Joe Darion and music by Ezra Laderman. Commissioned by Pamela Illott, Executive Producer of Cultural Programming of the CBS Television Network, and first performed on that network in May, 1967 under the title The Trials of Galileo. On February 3, 1979, it was modified for a staged performance under the new title, Galileo Galilei, performed by the Tri-Cities Opera in cooperation with the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Setting
The play is set in and around Rome, Italy, in the 17th century.
Act I: In the study of Galileo in Arcetri;
Act II: A conference room in the Vatican, later in the quarters of Cardinal Bellarmine;
Act III: The Inquisition trial;
Epilogue: Same as Act 1. Duration: approximately 2 hours.
Synopsis
Act I
Galileo is seated in his study, defeated, rejected, and blind. He is old and as he awaits death he contemplates his long and turbulent life. His astronomical discoveries have consistently been rejected by tradition-bound professors as well as the church. A Roman noblewoman known as The Friend is beside Galileo, comforting and protecting him.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 24, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q97358591. The first chronological checks are 1967 and 1979.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Trials of Galileo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.