- Mascagni wrote Cavalleria Rusticana as an entry to an 1888 competition from publisher Sonzogno for a one-act opera. 1
- Cavalleria rusticana premiered in Rome in 1890 to massive success and within months it appeared in cities throughout Europe and the USA.2
- The opera was based on Giovanni Verga’s play Cavalleria, which is often considered the beginning of the gritty style of verismo in Italian theater. Mascagni’s opera was the first operatic setting of a verismo play and became the prototype for the verismo style in opera.3
- Story: A tragedy set on the morning of Easter Sunday in 1880 in a Sicilian village, with the celebration of Easter Mass as an ironic/dramatic backdrop to the drama. Santuzza, an innocent peasant girl, confronts Turiddu, a young man who seduced her and abandoned her for Lola, Alfio’s wife. Santuzza tells Alfio about Turiddu’s and Lola’s affair, and Turiddu is killed in a duel with Alfio.4
- This movement: the Intermezzo is based on a Regina coeli hymn that first appeared sung by the chorus at the beginning of the opera’s Easter Day Mass. The Intermezzo is played immediately after Alfio swears to take vengeance on Turiddu; the curtain stays up, and it creates a moment of calm before the storm.5
Sources
- Michele Girardi, “Cavalleria rusticana (i),” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed November 13, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000007614.
- Michele Girardi, “Mascagni, Pietro,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 13, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000017964.
- Matteo Sansone, “Verismo,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 13, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000029210.
- Girardi, “Cavalleria rusticana (i),” Grove Music Online.
- Ibid.
Cut IDs
16866, 44242, 45281