Mascagni Cavaleria Rusticana Sheet Music, Program Notes and recordings

A Masterpiece of Raw, Violent Passion

The premiere of Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on May 17, 1890, was one of those rare, explosive events that changes the course of music history. Mascagni, a poor, unknown, 26-year-old music teacher, had entered his one-act opera in a competition sponsored by the publisher Sonzogno. He won first prize, and the resulting premiere was a sensation of almost unprecedented proportions. The audience was electrified by the opera’s raw emotionalism, its gritty realism, and its torrent of passionate, red-blooded melody. The age of polite, romantic opera was over; the age of verismo had begun. Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) is a masterpiece of theatrical compression, a short, brutal, and unforgettable story of everyday people caught in a deadly love triangle, set against the backdrop of an Easter Sunday celebration in a Sicilian village.

The Birth of Verismo

Verismo, which translates as "realism," was a literary and operatic movement that sought to portray the lives of ordinary, contemporary people with all their flaws, passions, and often violent impulses. It was a stark contrast to the historical epics and mythological fantasies that had dominated the operatic stage. Cavalleria Rusticana, with its story of lower-class villagers, its themes of adultery and revenge, and its shocking, violent conclusion, became the foundational work of this new, powerful movement. Its success immediately inspired a wave of similar works, most famously Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, with which it is now almost always performed as part of the famous "Cav/Pag" double bill.

A Synopsis of the Plot

The opera, in a single, continuous act, is set in a Sicilian village on Easter morning. Before the curtain rises, we hear the voice of Turiddu, a young soldier, singing a serenade to his new lover, Lola. Lola, however, is married to the carter, Alfio. The main action begins in the village square. Santuzza, a young peasant girl, arrives in distress. She had been engaged to Turiddu, but he abandoned her after she gave herself to him, rekindling his old affair with Lola. Santuzza, who is now pregnant and has been excommunicated from the church for her sin, confronts Turiddu’s mother, Mamma Lucia. As the villagers enter the church for Easter Mass, Santuzza stays behind and confronts Turiddu, begging him to come back to her. He violently rejects her. In a fit of jealous rage, Santuzza tells the newly returned Alfio that his wife, Lola, has been unfaithful to him with Turiddu. Alfio vows a bloody revenge.

The famous "Intermezzo" is then played to an empty stage, a moment of sublime, spiritual peace that provides a heartbreaking contrast to the violent passions of the story. After the Mass, the villagers emerge. Turiddu, in a mood of cheerful bravado, offers everyone wine. Alfio arrives and refuses Turiddu's offer, instead challenging him to a duel according to Sicilian custom. Turiddu accepts. Overcome with guilt and a premonition of his own death, he bids a tearful, desperate farewell to his mother, asking her to care for Santuzza if he does not return. He runs offstage to fight. A few moments later, a woman’s cry is heard from offstage: "They have murdered Turiddu!"

The Characters and the Music

The characters are not kings or gods, but recognizable, flawed human beings. Santuzza is the opera's tragic heart, a devout woman undone by love and shame, whose famous aria, "Voi lo sapete, o mamma" ("You know well, O mother"), is a devastating outpouring of grief. Turiddu is the arrogant, thoughtless young man whose infidelity sets the tragedy in motion. And Alfio is the proud, working-class husband, driven by the brutal Sicilian code of honor to seek a bloody revenge.

Mascagni’s score is a masterpiece of theatrical effectiveness. It is filled with one unforgettable melody after another. The "Easter Hymn" is a magnificent chorus, a huge, glorious wave of sound that blends the sacred music from inside the church with the secular passions of the characters in the square. But the opera’s most famous and beloved number is the purely orchestral "Intermezzo. " This beautiful, lyrical piece, with its soaring string melody, provides a moment of spiritual reflection and a heartbreaking lament for the tragedy that is about to unfold.

An Enduring Legacy

Cavalleria Rusticana was a cultural phenomenon. It made Mascagni a wealthy and famous man overnight and changed the face of Italian opera forever. Its formula—a short, fast-paced, and emotionally overwrought slice of life culminating in a violent conclusion—became the blueprint for the verismo movement. Its combination of raw, realistic drama and an endless stream of glorious, passionate melody has made it one of the most popular and enduring works in the entire operatic repertoire, a thrilling and unforgettable theatrical experience.