Cavalleria rusticana

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Work data
Title: Sicilian peasant honor
Original title: Cavalleria Rusticana
Depiction of a scene at the premiere in 1890

Depiction of a scene
at the premiere in 1890

Original language: Italian
Music: Pietro Mascagni
Libretto : Giovanni Targioni-Tozetti and Guido Menasci after Giovanni Verga
Premiere: May 17, 1890
Place of premiere: Rome
Playing time: about 70 minutes
Place and time of the action: A Sicilian village, Easter morning
people
  • Santuzza, a young peasant woman ( soprano )
  • Turiddu, a young farmer ( tenor )
  • Lucia, his mother ( old )
  • Alfio, a carter ( baritone )
  • Lola, his wife (soprano)
  • Country people, children ( choir )

Cavalleria rusticana (Sicilian Peasant Honor) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni . The story of the same name by Giovanni Verga from the collection of Sicilian Novellas served as a literary model . The libretto is by Giovanni Verga, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci . The premiere took place on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (then Teatro Costanzi ) in Rome . The opera lasts about 70 minutes. The opera takes place in a Sicilian village on Easter morning . Stylistically, the opera belongs to verism . It won first prize in a one-act competition with a total of 73 submissions and was distributed worldwide within two years - a unique event in the history of opera.

The Cavalleria Rusticana is quoted by Francis Ford Coppola in many pictures and acts of the third and last part of the Mafia trilogy The Godfather . Furthermore, the intermezzo was used as the opening melody for the film Wie ein Wilder Stier .

In order to achieve a full-length performance, the Cavalleria is often combined with the two acts, also veristic opera Pagliacci ( The Bajazzo , literally Bajazzi or Clowns ) by Ruggero Leoncavallo ; H. one opera is played before the theater break, the other after the break.

action

Gemma Bellincioni as Santuzza and her husband Roberto Stagno as Turiddu, at the world premiere (1890)

The farmers greet each other happily in front of the church. Only Santuzza is sad and restless. She asks Lucia where her son Turiddu, her lover, is. He has let himself be ensnared by Lola, the wife of the carter Alfio, and Santuzza claims to have seen Turiddu in the village that evening, although he was supposedly in Francofonte to buy wine . Alfio returns from a trip and is looking forward to seeing his “faithful female” again. When he has left, Santuzza complains of old Lucia's suffering. Everyone goes to church, only Santuzza is waiting for Turiddu. But he ignores her requests and jealous accusations, he is completely spellbound by Lola, who prances with a flirtatious little song in front of the church. Turiddu wants to follow her, Santuzza stands in the way, asks, threatens, pleads for his love.

But Turiddu does not see the problem in the fact that he has deeply hurt, dishonored and then "thrown away" her, but only in Santuzza herself that she does not simply accept it. Angry, he throws her to the ground and hurries to the church, followed by Lola. Now Santuzza's passionate love turns into passionate hatred and thirst for revenge. Beside herself, she hurls a curse after him, and when Alfio just passes by, she opens his eyes to the infidelity of his wife.

Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo sinfonico

The scene remains empty for a few minutes: an intermezzo sinfonico by the orchestra symbolizes the Easter peace of the devout churchgoers. The fair is over. People meet in the tavern. Turiddu invites them to a drink . When Alfio arrives and confronts Turiddu, he finally bites Alfio's ear. All farmers know immediately what this means according to the old custom: a fight to the death, a duel. This challenge is entirely in the spirit of Alfio, who adheres to a relentless peasant code of honor.

Turiddu explains to his mother that he has drunk too much wine and needs some fresh air. He says goodbye, asks for her blessing and orders Santuzza for her protection. Then he rushes out. Desperate Santuzza throws himself into the arms of his mother Lucia. There are moments of disturbing tension, until a horrified woman's scream announces: "You killed godfather Turiddu!"

Verism or Melodrama?

In contrast to Verga's narrative cool veristic model, at the end of the opera Santuzza - in accordance with Turiddu's request - is accepted by his mother as a kind of daughter. In view of this melodramatic ending, the veristic element remains largely limited to the subject of the opera, the rawness of which would previously have been judged to be “not artful”. Apart from a few Sicilian rhythms, the local color is largely missing. The excessive romantic increase in melodrama at the end of the opera is paradoxically interpreted today as verism . However, certain dramaturgical elements are veristic: the aria precedes the catastrophe and is not its lyrical reflection; the dialogues are interrupted by arguments; the audience does not find out from Lola and Turiddu that they are a couple, but from Santuzza.

Film adaptations

Vocal score

  • Intermezzo sinfonico piano reduction by Carlotta Ferrari (1831–1907). Niedernhausen (Idstein), Edition Kemel, 2016.

literature

Web links

Commons : Cavalleria Rusticana  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Schreiber 2000, p. 176 ff.
  2. Cavalleria rusticana (1968) in the Internet Movie Database (English)