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
Scene from the world premiere of the opera
Mascagni (center) with his librettists, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti (left) and Guido Menasci
Russian edition of the Cavalleria rusticana script (1896)
Gemma Bellincioni as Santuzza, and her husband, Roberto Stagno, as Turiddu, in the 1890 premiere of Cavalleria rusticana
Pagliacci is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company
Cavalleria rusticana
…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. In July 1888 the Milanese music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno announced a competition open to all young Italian composers who had…
Cover of first piano/vocal score, published in 1892
Enrico Caruso as Canio in Pagliacci, one of his signature roles