Opera :
Mascagni & Puccini - Cavalleria rusticana & Gianni Schicchi

Opera
Conductor Speranza Scappucci
Director Grischa Asagaroff

Melodramma in one act

Music by Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
Libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti et Guido Menasci, based on the short story of the same name by Giovanni Verga
Premiere : Teatro Costanzi, Roma, 17 may 1890

Comic opera in one act, from’Il trittico

Music by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, based on one episode of the Chant XXX de L’Enfer (La Divine Comédie) by Dante
Premiere : Metropolitan Opera, New York, 14 december 1918

New production

Since innovation is not a crime, these two works, which are not often seen together, will be the object of a new production by director Grischa Asagaroff: Cavalleria rusticana, the founding opus of the verismo movement and Mascagni’s greatest success, will precede Gianni Schicchi, the third opera of the Trittico cycle, Puccini’s late masterpiece. Both works were written by composers who shared the same stages and a similar idea of the operatic narrative, and each of whom provided a striking contrast between the two faces of Italy. On one side, the fiery Sicily described in Verga’s short story, where passions are as intense as the sun that crushes its villages, and its inherent fatality that leads to death. On the other side, the refinement of Dante’s medieval and popular, elegant and spiritual city of Florence, where the vis comica colours each instant with infectious humour. In short, two operas theatrically inspired and filled with memorable lyrical flights. Under the direc-tion of Speranza Scappucci, the Italian conductor whose career is rising rapidly, two casts will work unfailingly to render justice to the extreme tension of Mascagni’s music and the agility of Puccini’s score.