Cavalleria rusticana

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Cover of Souvenir Libretto
Cover of Souvenir Libretto

Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to a libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a short story by Giovanni Verga. It premiered on May 17, 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.

(The verismo composer Domenico Monleone also composed an opera with the same name which was premiered in Amsterdam, 1907, but it was soon withdrawn because of legal action taken by Mascagni).

Contents

[edit] Cast

  • Santuzza, a young peasant (soprano).
  • Turiddu, a young farmer (tenor).
  • Lucia, his mother (alto).
  • Alfio, a carrier (baritone).
  • Lola, his wife (mezzo-soprano).

[edit] Synopsis

While the curtain is down, Turiddu sings. (Siciliana: "O Lola, lovely as the spring’s bright blooms.") The action takes place before the church. Devout pantomime by the church-goers; behind the scene, chorus of peasants. ("Queen of Heaven.") At last Santuzza and Lucia appear from opposite sides of the stage. (Santuzza: "Tell me, mamma Lucia.") Turiddu is the lover of Santuzza and she believes he has discarded her for Lola; she has seen him entering the young woman’s house. The carrier Alfio, the husband of Lola, appears with the chorus and also says that he has seen Turiddu, but thinks nothing wrong of it. When Lucia, who has sent her son to Francofonte for wine, inquires further into the matter, she is asked to be silent by Santuzza. (Romanza: "Well do you know, good mamma.")

After the chorus with Alfio has departed, Santuzza recites her wrongs. Turiddu loved Lola, but after his service in the army found her married to Alfio. He then entered into relations with Santuzza, and is now turn­ing back to his former love. The alarmed Lucia enters the church with the peasants. Santuzza awaits Turiddu (Scene: "You, Santuzza"), who, however, treats her coldly and drives her to despair by leaving her and entering the church with Lola. (Duet: "Ah what folly"; Lola: "My king of roses.") "You shall suffer in blood for this," Santuzza exclaims, and in of the great verismo moments of opera, yells "A bad Easter" to Turiddu as he heads in to mass. Alfio returns and Santuzza relates the unfaithfulness of Lola to him.(Duet: "God has sent you, neighbour Alfio."). Breathing vengeance, the carrier resolves to kill Turiddu and departs with Santuzza. During the following orchestral music (Intermezzo) the stage remains empty.

Turiddu, Lola and the chorus emerge from the church; Turiddu sings a drinking song ("Hail the red wine, richly flowing"). Alfio returns and Turiddu offers him some wine, but Alfio said it would turn to poison after he drinks it. He is then challenged by Alfio to a duel with knives after the manner of the Sicilians. Promising to follow Alfio, he sings a moving farewell to his mother, and asks her to care for the unhappy Santuzza, whom he has so deeply wronged. After a short pause, Santuzza, followed by a crowd of women, rushes upon the stage, and with the stark cry of "Turiddu is dead," the opera ends abruptly.

Cavalleria rusticana, though it appears melodramatic even by modern operatic standards, is one of the few verismo operas that have consistently remained in the repertory.

[edit] Noted arie

  • "O Lola" (Turiddu)
  • "Il Cavallo Scalpita" (Alfio)
  • "Regina Coeli" (Chorus)
  • "Voi lo sapete, o mamma" (Santuzza)
  • "Ah! lo vedi, che hai tu detto?" (Turiddu and Santuzza)
  • "Ad essi non perdono" (Alfio)
  • "Viva il vino spumeggiante" (Turiddu)
  • Addio alla madre (Turiddu)

While not technically an aria, additionally noteworthy (and famous) is the opera's symphonic Intermezzo.

[edit] Popular culture

  • The opera has been made into film in a number of different versions, including one by Franco Zeffirelli (1982), with Yelena Obraztsova and Plácido Domingo
  • A performance of the opera is used as the backdrop for the closing scenes of the film The Godfather Part III and the famous Intermezzo is featured on the soundtrack of the film. The film actually shows segments from the opera out of chronological order, with Turiddu's drinking song coming before Alfio's Aria
  • Three pieces of music from the opera are used in the Martin Scorsese film Raging Bull
  • Also heard briefly in the film Avanti!
  • In the "Communication Problems" episode of Fawlty Towers, Basil Fawlty asks Terry the chef if he likes Cavalleria Rusticana, to which he replies, "I've never had it Mr. Fawlty", mistaking it to be cuisine.
  • The Intermezzo was used as the background music in the 31st episode of the hit anime Rurouni Kenshin, namely the scene when Himura Kenshin said farewell to Kamiya Kaoru and he departed to Kyoto.
  • The Intermezzo was also used twice in episode 13 of the anime Love Hina. First in the scene when Shinobu Maehara runs out on a conversation between Naru Narusegawa and Keitaro Urashima. Later after she thinks Kaolla Su is trying to steal her friend, peek in her sketchbook and steal her first kiss and she sits in her room, the music plays again until the end of the episode.
  • In the 1970 blockbuster "Love story", a query of the lineage between the heroine "Jennifer Cavalleri" played by Ali McGraw and this opera, was made by the snobbish family of "Oliver Barrett IV", played by Ryan O'Neal.
  • The 1999 film adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream used the intermezzo in a couple of scenes, most notably when Bottom (Kevin Kline) and Titania (Michelle Pfeiffer) declare their love for each other.
  • "Intermezzo" is the theme to Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull.
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