"Cavalleria rusticana" | |
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Short story by Giovanni Verga | |
Language | Italian |
Publication | |
Published in | Novelle rusticane |
Publication date | 1883 |
Cavalleria rusticana | |
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Date premiered | 1884 |
Place premiered | Turin |
Original language | Italian |
Genre | Tragedy |
"Cavalleria rusticana" ( Italian for 'Rustic Chivalry') is a short story by the Sicilian Giovanni Verga, published in a collection entitled Novelle rusticane in 1883 and presented in dramatic form as a one-act tragedy at Turin in 1884. Pietro Mascagni made this prose play the basis of the verse-libretto of his one-act opera, Cavalleria rusticana (1890). [1]
The scene is a Sicilian village and the time is Easter Day at the hour of mass. Turiddu Macca, a young peasant, son of a widowed mother, was in love with the coquette, Lola. On his return from military service, he found her married to Alfio, a carter. Out of pique, he paid his addresses to Santuzza, who fell desperately in love with him and on receiving his promise of marriage admitted him to her chamber. Lola, annoyed that Turiddu should love anyone else, ensnares him again, and her husband's frequent absences enable them to meet at her house. Meanwhile, Santuzza finds herself about to become a mother. During the time of mass on Easter morning she rebukes Turiddu for his infidelity and begs him to return to her; but he refuses roughly, and Santuzza then reveals to Alfio, who has just returned from a journey, the relations of his wife, Lola, and Turiddu. Alfio finds Turiddu drinking in the village square after church and challenges him to a duel—a challenge which is sealed by the peasants' custom of embracing and biting the ear. They go out quietly and word comes almost immediately that Turiddu is slain. [1]
Helen Rex Keller writes, "The story both in its narrative and its dramatic form presents in lively colors the fierce passions and primitive customs of the Sicilian peasantry." [1]
In opera, verismo, from vero, meaning 'true', was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini.
Giovanni Carmelo Verga di Fontanabianca was an Italian realist (verista) writer.
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I Malavoglia is the best known novel by Giovanni Verga. It was first printed in 1881.
Gemma Bellincioni was an Italian dramatic soprano and one of the best-known opera singers of the late 19th century. She had a particular affinity with the verismo repertoire and was renowned more for her charismatic acting than for the quality of her voice.
Roberto Stagno was a prominent Italian opera tenor. He became an important interpreter of verismo music when it burst on to the operatic scene during the 1890s; but he also possessed an agile bel canto technique which he employed in operas dating from earlier periods. In 1890, he created the pivotal verismo role of Turiddu.
Lina Bruna Rasa was an Italian operatic dramatic soprano. She was particularly noted for her performances in the verismo repertoire and was a favourite of Pietro Mascagni who considered her the ideal Santuzza. Bruna Rasa created the roles of Atte in Mascagni's Nerone, Cecilia Sagredo in Franco Vittadini's La Sagredo and Saint Clare in Licinio Refice's 1926 oratorio, Trittico Francescano. She also sang the role of Tsaritsa Militrisa in the Italian premiere of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tale of Tsar Saltan.
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play by Giovanni Verga. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pag double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo.
Gaetano Bardini was an Italian tenor. Bardini gave numerous recitals and was a success in the Czech Republic, releasing his recording of his performances with the Prague Smetana, Brno State Opera, and Prague Chamber orchestras, with conductors Jan Štych and Ino Savini. He was born in Riparbella and died in Cecina at the age of 91.
Mala Pasqua! is an opera in three acts composed by Stanislao Gastaldon to a libretto by Giovanni Domenico Bartocci-Fontana. The libretto is based on Giovanni Verga's play, Cavalleria rusticana which Verga had adapted from his short story of the same name. Mala Pasqua! premiered on 9 April 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, six weeks before Pietro Mascagni's opera Cavalleria rusticana which was also based on Verga's play. Bartocci-Fontana's libretto adds some elements that were not in Verga's original and expands on others. The name of the Santuzza character was also changed to Carmela, but the basic plot and setting remain the same. Its title refers to the curse which Carmela places on Turiddu, the lover who had spurned her: "Mala Pasqua a te!". Following its Rome premiere, Mala Pasqua! had a few more performances in Perugia and Lisbon, but it was completely eclipsed by the phenomenal success of Mascagni's opera. After the 1891 Lisbon run it was not heard again until 2010 when it was given a semi-staged performance in Agrigento, Sicily.
Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s. Giovanni Verga and Luigi Capuana were its main exponents and the authors of a verismo manifesto. Capuana published the novel Giacinta, generally regarded as the "manifesto" of Italian verismo. Unlike French naturalism, which was based on positivistic ideals, Verga and Capuana rejected claims of the scientific nature and social usefulness of the movement.
Reno Andreini was an Italian operatic tenor who had an active international career from 1902 to 1924. A specialist in the Italian repertoire, he was frequently heard in the bel canto operas of Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini, and in the verismo operas of Leoncavallo, Mascagni, and Puccini. He was notably the first singer to make a complete recording of the role of Rodolfo in Puccini's La boheme in 1917. He also recorded duets from La traviata with Maria Galvany and one duet from Massenet's Manon with Riccardo Tegani with the Gramophone Company.
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Cavalleria Rusticana is a 1959 Australian television play, an adaptation of the opera by Pietro Mascagni. It was directed by Alan Burke.
Alessio di Giovanni was an Italian poet, novelist, and playwright. Much of his work is in Sicilian.
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"La Lupa" is a short story by Sicilian writer Giovanni Verga, first published in 1880.
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Cavalleria rusticana is an 1890 opera by Pietro Mascagni. The title may also refer to:
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