Home > Cavalleria Rusticana Mascagni, P. (1863-1945) Cavalleria Rusticana Rustic Chivalry Composed 1889. First performed May 17, 1890. Libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci (in Itarian), after Verga. A Summary of “Cavalleria Rusticana” Act 1 In about 1890, on Sicily Island, in the morning during Easter, Santuzza who is a lady in a village and visits Lucia who is the mother of Santuzza’s lover, Turiddu. Santuzza asks Lucia where her son has gone. Santuzza knew that Turiddu had spent that previous night with Lola who is a Turiddu’s former lover. Lola married Alfio, when Turiddu served in the army. Santuzza complains to Turiddu’s mother, but Lucia also isn’t in the position to do anything to stop Turiddu. Santuzza goes to the church. In front of the church, she happens to see her lover, Turiddu. She asks him, “Where were you last night?” But, Turiddu refuses to answer. On the contrary, he attempts to enter the church with Lola who has just arrived. Santuzza clings to him, but he pushes her away. Santuzza feels sad. Then, Alfio, who is Lola’s husband, arrives, too. Santuzza decides to reveal to him about his wife. Of course, Alfio is infuriated. So, he swears revenge to Turiddu. Santuzza regrets telling him, and is now worried about Turiddu. Turiddu returns home. Later that day, Turiddu is at home drinking with his friends. Then, Alfio appears. Turiddu urges him to drink with them, but Alfio refuses. Turiddu understands why Alfio visits him, and he challenges Alfio to a duel. Turiddu says to his mother, Lucia, goodbye, he pretends to be drunk. And he asks her to take care of Santuzza, when he dies. Then, he goes to the field for the duel. As a result of the duel, a village lady screams, “Turiddu was killed!” Lucia and Santuzza lose consciousness upon hearing that. A Comment on “Cavalleria Rusticana” The Italian publishing company, Sonzogno, holds the opera composition contest. The application condition for this contest is a one-act opera. In 1889, in the second contest, Pietro Mascagni who composed the opera, “Cavalleria Rusticana,” won the first prize. Then, Mascagni was 26 years old. The first performance of this opera the next year created a big stir. Mascagni gained the status of international famous opera composer. After composing this opera, Mascagni composed another 15 operas, but none of them gained popularity. “Cavalleria Rusticana” is the most important work of “verismo opera” which is a kind of realism opera. Verismo opera expresses the reality of ordinary life. Verismo opera became in fashion from this opera, but only a few of these operas succeeded. “Cavalleria Rusticana” means “Rustic Chivalry” in English. This opera expresses an ambience of Southern Italy of those days. It's not important, but I heard that Mascagni starts to compose this opera from the last scene in which a village lady screams. The reason it gained popularity among people is that this opera has both dramatic melodies and lyrical melodies. For example, Siciliana sung by Turiddu is accompanied on the harp. The imperious chorus sung with Santuzza is very beautiful. In addition, the intermezzo set before the dramatic last scene is called “Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana.” And, this Intermezzo is the most popular lyrical melodies all over the world. Gluck, C. W. (1714-1787) 　- Orpheus and Eurydice Mozart, W. A. (1756-1791) 　- The Marriage of Figaro 　- Don Giovanni 　- Cosi fan tutte 　- The Magic Flute Beethoven, L. v. (1770-1827) 　- Fidelio Weber, C. M. v. (1786-1826) 　- The Magic Bullets Rossini, G. (1792-1868) 　- The Barber of Seville Donizetti, G. (1797-1848) 　- The Elixir of Love Verdi, G. (1813-1901) 　- Macbeth 　- Rigoletto 　- Il trovatore 　- La Traviata 　- Un ballo in maschera 　- Don Carlo 　- Aida 　- Otello 　- Falstaff Wagner, R. (1813-1883) 　- The Flying Dutchman 　- Tannhauser 　- Lohengrin 　- Tristan und Isolde 　- Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg 　- The Rhinegold 　- Die Walkure 　- Siegfried 　- Twilight of the Gods 　- Parsifal Offenbach, J. (1819-1880) 　- The Tales of Hoffmann Strauss, J. (1825-1899) 　- Die Fledermaus (The Bat) Bizet, G. (1838-1875) 　- Carmen Tchaikovsky, P. J. (1840-1893) 　- Eugene Onegin Massenet, J. (1842-1912) 　- Werther Humperdinck, E. (1854-1921) 　- Hansel and Gretel Puccini, G. (1858-1924) 　- La Boheme 　- Tosca 　- Madama Butterfly 　- Turandot Leoncavallo, R. (1858-1919) 　- Pagliacci Mascagni, P. (1863-1945) 　- Cavalleria Rusticana Debussy, C. (1862-1918) 　- Pelleas et Melisande Strauss, R. (1864-1949) 　- Salome 　- The Cavalier of the Rose Copyright (C) 2005-2013 Yusuke Kamiki. All Rights Reserved.