Country honor. based on the play of the same name by J.

The most famous operas peace. Original title, author and brief description.

Rural Honor (Cavalleria Rusticana), P. Mascagni

Melodrama in one act; libretto by G. Tardgioni-Tozzetti and G. Menashi based on the short story of the same name by G. Verga.
First production: Rome, Teatro Costanzi, May 17, 1890.

Characters: Santuzza (soprano), Lola (mezzo-soprano), Turrida (tenor), Alfio (baritone), Lucia (contralto), peasants and peasant women.

The action takes place in the square of one of the villages of Sicily in late XIX century.

Behind the stage, the voice of Turiddu is heard singing Lola Siciliana. People enter the church: today is Easter. The choir glorifies nature and love (“Gli aranci olezzano”; “The fruits on the trees are lush”). Santuzza enters the tavern of Lucia, Turiddu's mother, to find out something about her lover, who Lately avoids her. The driver Alfio, Lola’s husband (“Il cavallo scalpita”; “The horses are flying madly”) appears; he casually mentions that he saw Turidda in the morning near his house. A festive choir is heard (“Inneggiamo al Signore risorto”; “Sing the song of triumph”).

Santuzza confesses his sadness to Lucia: Turiddu was Lola’s fiancé before serving in the army, but she did not wait for him and married Alfio. Turiddu seemed to have forgotten his youthful passion, having fallen in love with Santuzza, but now Lola again attracts him to her (“Voi lo sapete, o mamma”; “Going into the distance as a soldier”). Left alone in the square with Turiddu, Santuzza accuses him of infidelity. Lola passes by, defiantly singing a song (“Fior di giaggialo”; “Flower of mirror waters”). Turiddu, in a rage pushing aside Santuzza, who curses him, enters the church. Santuzza tells Alfio everything. He becomes furious and decides to take revenge (“Ad essi non perdono”; “They have no forgiveness”).

The action is interrupted by an interlude. Turiddu then invites everyone to have a drink (song with chorus "Viva il vino spumeggiante"; "Hello, gold of the glass") and praises Lola's beauty. Alfio contemptuously rejects his invitation to join the feast. Rivals, by old custom, hug, challenging each other to a duel, while Turiddu bites Alfio's ear. Feeling sorry for Santuzza, Turiddu asks her mother to take care of her and leaves. Some time later, women are heard screaming: “Turiddu has been killed.”

HISTORY OF CREATION.

The reason for composing the work was a competition of one-act operas, announced by the Milanese publisher E. Sonzogno. To participate in it, Mascagni interrupted work on the opera “Ratcliffe” and turned to the plot of “Rural Honor,” which had long attracted his attention. Novella Italian writer Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) “Honor Rusticana,” published in 1889, gained fame thanks to the dramatization, which featured the brilliant performer of the title role, E. Duse. The play was distinguished by its maximum concentration of action and plot. Its events unfold within one morning, which, undoubtedly, was especially attractive to the composer.

The libretto, written by G. Tardgioni-Tozetti (1859-1934) with the participation of G. Menashi, was initially two-act, but, according to the terms of the competition, it was reduced to one act. Central location in the opera the images of the main characters, outlined with spare, well-aimed strokes: the infinitely devoted, frantic in love Santuzza and the frivolous, flighty Lola; passionate, addicted Turiddu and mercilessly vengeful Alfio. Folk scenes are noticeably developed. The two acts of the drama are connected in the opera by a symphonic intermezzo, which subsequently gained wide popularity.

Out of 70 operas submitted to the competition, “Rural Honor” won first prize. On May 17, 1890, the premiere took place in Rome and was a triumphant success. Soon the opera was performed in many countries around the world, helping to spread the principles of verism.

MUSIC.

The music of "Rural Honor" is full of flexible, passionate cantilena, close to folk songs. Its emotional contrasts enhance the poignancy of the plot: violent passions are replaced by a state of spiritual detachment, the dramatic clash of human characters is opposed by the calmness of spring nature.

In the orchestral introduction serene pastoral images, contemplative moods are vividly shaded by a lyrically excited melody. Behind the curtain, the Sicilian Turiddu “O Lola, creature of the sultry night” sounds (middle section of the introduction); its slow melody, accompanied guitar accompaniment, full of sensual languor and bliss.

The choral introduction “Fruits are showing off on the trees lushly” conveys the upbeat atmosphere of the holiday. Alfio’s colorfully orchestrated song with the choir “Horses Are Flying Madly” is imbued with proud prowess. The chorus “Sing the Song of Triumph” with its enlightened, sublime moods sharply contrasts with the drama of the next scene. Santuzza's elegiacally sad romance “Going into the Distance as a Soldier” has a touch of ballad storytelling. The duet between Santuzza and Turiddu juxtaposes intensely passionate and mournfully enlightened melodies. The duet is interrupted by Lola’s flirtatiously graceful song “Flower of Mirror Waters.” Throughout the duet, sweeping melodies sound with increasing excitement. The drama reaches its peak in the duet of Santuzza and Alfio. The symphonic intermezzo brings relaxation; its serene calm evokes pictures of peaceful, gentle nature. Turiddu’s sharply rhythmic drinking song “Hello, the gold of the glass” splashes with sparkling fun. It contrasts with Turiddu’s arioso “I repent of my guilt,” full of deep sorrow; a plastic vocal melody is accompanied by a melodious cantilena of strings. The last arioso of Turiddu “Mother Santa...” is permeated with a feeling of passionate entreaty, conveying the utmost tension of mental strength.

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The premiere took place in Rome on May 17, 1890.
The plot is based on the novella of the same name by the Italian realist writer Giovanni Verga. The action takes place at the end of the 19th century in a Sicilian village. A gentle and calm foreplay becomes more and more dramatic. Viewers hear the voice of a soldier singing a serenade in honor of his beloved.
The curtain rises and the viewer sees the central square. People go to church for a festive prayer service in honor of Easter. Young woman Santuzza asks the old woman Lucia O Turiddu, her son. The conversation is interrupted by an energetic cab driver Alfio who sings his song. He has no idea what Turiddu spending time with his lovely wife Lola. Alfio speaks Lucia that he saw her son near his home. Santuzza increasingly suspects something is wrong.
The religious procession begins. Peasants sing along with the church choir to the sounds of the organ. Santuzza stops Lucia to tell her your fears. She's afraid for Turiddu. After all, even before the service he was in love with Lola and wanted to marry her. But when he returned, she found herself married to someone else. Then he suggested Santuzze to become his bride, but, as it seems to her, he was again inflamed with passion for Lole. Lucia very upset about my son. She sympathizes with the young girl, but is unable to help. He approaches the church himself Turiddu. He brings Santuzze their vague apologies for being late, but they quarrel again. Interferes in their conversation Lola: She sings a love song and looks very inspired. Turiddu unable to cope with his feelings, he rudely pushes away Santuzza and runs after Lola. Santuzza falls to the ground and sends curses after his offender. Last to enter the church Alfio. Santuzza angrily tells him about her suspicions. Alfio furious and going to take revenge. The girl understands that a tragedy could happen and, full of remorse, rushes for jealous husband Lola.

The procession had just ended. All the villagers rush to the house of the merry Turiddu to start the festivities. Appears Alfio. Turiddu offers him a glass, but he refuses. Then the young soldier breaks the cup into pieces. Women sense something is wrong, persuading Lola leave. Two men are about to duel. Turiddu tormented by conscience because Santuzzi. He makes his mother promise that she will take care of the girl. And if he returns alive, he will immediately marry her. Turiddu goes to Alfio. The silence is painful... A terrible woman’s scream breaks the silence: “They have stabbed Turidda to death!” Santuzza and Lucia fall unconscious. The opera ends with general silence.

History of creation. The reason for writing the opera was a competition in 1888 from the Sonzoño publishing house. The works that took first, second and third places had to be staged at the expense of the organizer of the competition for young composers. As soon as Pietro Mascagni learned about the competition, he immediately put aside all his affairs and began working on a new work, although at that moment he was working on an opera “ Ratcliffe" Plot "Rural honor" has long attracted the attention of the composer. Theater productions according to the novel they were using it at that time great success. The actions develop so quickly that the viewer's attention is simply riveted to what is happening on stage. The events of the play unfold literally in one morning, which undoubtedly attracted Pietro Mascagni even more. The libretto was written by the composer's friend, Giovanni Targioni-Tozetti, with the participation of Guido Menasci. Originally a two-act play, it was shortened to one act. Work on the opera took two months and was completed on time. As a result, among the seventy-three operas participating in the competition, it was "Rural Honor" received first place and was recognized as the best creation of the composer. For more than 50 years, Mascagni lived on the income from productions of this elegant masterpiece. None of the subsequent operas had such success. The premiere of the opera was marked by stunning delight from the public. Opera "Rural Honor" is still very popular today.

Fun facts:

• Many theaters around the world play "Rural Honor" by Pietro Mascagni and Gioachino Rossini's Pagliacci on the same evening due to their incredible similarities.
• Italian title of the opera « Cavalleria rusticana» usually translated as "Country Honor". There is an incredible irony in this, because in fact, storyline There is not the slightest honor in the behavior of the main characters!
• The premiere of "Rural Honor" in "" took place on December 30, 1891. The work went through more than 650 performances!
• Big fan opera "Rural Honor" was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
• In honor of main character Lola's opera was named after an asteroid discovered in 1900.
• IN famous movie « Godfather 3" Anthony Corleone sings the part in "Rural Honour".
• In 1982, Italian director Franco Zeffirelli made a film of the same name.

P. Mascagni opera "Honour Rural"

When there is more passion than love, and more hatred than faith... Pietro Mascagni’s opera “Rural Honor” was created from such emotions, which shaped the characteristics and values ​​of verismo. And with him she brought peasants, traveling comedians, the poor and the disadvantaged to the world’s largest stages - as opposed to the traditional opera aristocrats, historical figures or heroes of legends.

Summary

Background. Before Turrido joined the army, he had romantic relationship with Lola. But, returning home, the young man discovered that his beloved had married Alfio. Despite the fact that the old passion still burned in him, he forgot himself in the warm embrace of Santuzza, whom he promised to take as his wife. Lola, seeing that Turrida was trying to start a life with someone else, again lured him into her network...

Early Easter Sunday morning in a Sicilian village, 1880. Turridou returns from a late night date with Lola. Meanwhile, Santuzza comes to his house and, guessing where her fiancé actually spent the night, begs Lucia to tell the truth about it. Turrida enters, Santuzza makes him a scene of jealousy, and he drives her away. In her hearts, she finds Alfio and tells him about the relationship between Turrido and Lola. The offended husband challenges his opponent to a duel and kills him.

Photo:

Interesting Facts

• "Honor rusticana" was highly appreciated by such Mascagni contemporaries as D. Verdi And P.I. Chaikovsky. Moreover, Verdi called the composer almost his successor. He was only partly able to justify such flattering expectations of the great maestro - among his subsequent 14 operas were the popular at one time “Friend Fritz” and “Iris”, but now these titles are hardly familiar even to fans of the genre, since they did not rise to the level of “Rural honor." And the real “heir” to the traditions of Italian opera, the musician who brought it to new round development, became D. Puccini.
• Mascagni is called “one opera man” or “author of one opera.” At the same time, during his lifetime he was ranked among the largest composers in Italy. What is its phenomenon? First of all, Mascagni, having tasted success, did not want to follow the beaten path, developing the veristic direction. He was interested in decadence, expressionism, orientalism, operetta, and new subjects. The publisher Giulio Ricordi, with whom the composer began to collaborate after the conflict with Sonzogno, offered him a libretto based on the short story “She-Wolf” by the same Verga. Mascagni refused and was eventually forced to look for a new publisher.
• D. Verga's novella attracted the attention of many musicians, and Mascagni was not even the first of them. In 1894, the writer's friend Giuseppe Perrotta writes symphonic poem"Rural honor". Just a month before the triumph of Mascagni’s opera, the premiere of the opera “Evil Easter” by composer Stanislao Gastaldon took place at the same Costanzi Theater. It was a three-act work that did not impress the sophisticated audience at all. The most interesting thing is that Gastaldon also planned to participate in the Sonzogno competition, but he was outbid by D. Ricordi, who immediately ordered him an opera for Rome. In 1895, the Florentine Oreste Bimboni presented the opera Santuzza in Palermo. The Genoese Domenico Monleone wrote his “Rural Honor” in 1907, which was shown in Amsterdam. Mascagni’s lawyers demanded a ban on the performance of the understudy opera, their claims were satisfied, and Monleone transferred the music to another libretto, the opera became known as “The Battle of the Falcons.” Only in 1998, Monleone’s work was performed again in its original version. In addition to these fundamental works, in the 1890s different corners many parodies and comic operas based on the plot of "Rural Honor".
• The phenomenal success of "Honor Rusticana" quarreled three people involved in its appearance - the author of the original source D. Verga, the publisher E. Sonzogno and P. Mascagni, who, until 1893, were in court to determine the ownership of the copyright in the opera. Verga eventually sued the publisher and composer for a record sum of 143,000 lire.
• In 1940, Mascagni took part in the audio recording of “Rural Honor”, ​​organized in honor of the 50th anniversary of the premiere.
• Despite the cliché of verismo appropriated by Mascagni, the composer himself did not agree with it, not calling either himself or his work that way.
• The role of Santuzza turned out to be fateful in the career of Gemma Bellincione, its first performer. In this role, both her singing and acting talents were fully revealed; they began to trust her with the main roles of Puccini and Giordano, Massenet and Richard Strauss.
• During Mascagni's lifetime, "Honor Rusticana" was performed 14,000 times in Italy alone - that's about 21 performances every month for 55 years in a row. Now opera is performed on world stages more than 700 times a year.
• The song “Mascagni”, dedicated to the great composer, was written for Andrea Bocelli to the music of Intermezzo.

Love and passion by Pietro Mascagni

In the life of Mascagni himself there were plenty of passions similar to those that so tormented his heroes. In 1888 he married Lina Carbognani, who supported him in difficult moments lack of money and obscurity. Their first child, born before the wedding, died at four months. Lina was a very practical lady; even in moments of fame and prosperity, she continued to run her household economically. She was not only faithful wife, but also a devoted person, ready to support any undertaking of her husband. The beginning of work on “Rural Honor” coincided with the birth of the long-awaited son Domenico, and then another son and daughter were born. Mascagni was a caring husband and a loving, attentive father. He remained this way even when another woman, Anna Lolly, appeared in his life.

It happened in 1910, he was 47, she was 22... A seemingly banal affair between an aging man and a young beauty turned into a connection that was broken only by the composer’s death in 1945. For 35 years, Mascagna effectively had two families, each aware of the existence of the other. Many summer seasons Mascagni spent time with Anna in the small town of Bagnara di Romagna. Today, there, in the house of a local priest, a small museum is organized, which houses 5,000 unpublished letters from Mascagni to his beloved, testifying to his unfading feelings. The composer dedicated the operas “Isabeau” and “Parisina” to her.

History of creation and productions

Milanese newspaper magnate Edoardo Sonzogno announced in 1888 another competition one-act operas. A few years earlier, the jury of this competition, for various reasons, ignored D. Puccini’s first opera. A friend's bad experience did not stop the young composer Pietro Mascagni. Three years have passed since he left the Milan Conservatory with a scandal. His family was so poor that he was unable to even buy music paper for himself. Having settled down as a conductor and teacher in music school in the Apulian city of Cerignola (geographically, this is the “spur” of the Italian “boot”), Mascagni tried unsuccessfully to write operas.

The composer commissioned the libretto from his friend, Giovanni Targioni-Tozetti, and the writer Guido Menaschi. Without exaggeration, it was based on the hit of its time, Giovanni Verga’s play “Honor Rusticana”. She successfully went to drama theater, main role The legendary E. Duse played in one of the productions. The music was ready in two months, but Mascagni delayed sending the notes because he doubted the success of his composition. IN last moment The manuscript was sent to the competition by his wife, Lina, to whom we are still grateful today for such a decisive action. The jury took a long time to choose the winner from 73 submitted works. “Rural Honor” was awarded the first prize, and its author received two years of support and a contract with the publishing house Sonzogno. Everything that Mascagni could only dream of before has come true!

On May 17, 1890, the premiere of “Rural Honor” took place at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. The unconditional success forced theaters to vie with the composer to sign contracts for productions. In the same year, the opera crossed the borders of Italy and began a triumphant march across the stages of Europe, and a year later it was staged in many cities in the United States. The Russian public also heard the novelty in 1891 thanks to the performance of an Italian troupe; in the next two years, various private operas began to perform it. In 1894, “Rural Honor” was performed at the Mariinsky Theater.

Mascagni's masterpiece opened a new direction in opera - verismo. The second and only verist opera of equal talent was “Pagliacci” by R. Leoncavallo, written two years later. Often they go on the same evening, chronological order, through the intermission from each other. IN opera world this tandem was nicknamed Cav-Pag (“Cavalleria rusticana” and “Pagliacci”).

Mascagni. "Rural honor". Intermezzo (conductor - T. Serafin)

An opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni with a libretto (in Italian) by Guido Menasci and Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, based on the play by Giovanni Verga, which, in turn, is a dramatization of his short story of the same name.

CHARACTERS:

SANTUZZA, a young peasant woman (soprano) TURIDDU, a young soldier (tenor) LUCIA, his mother (contralto) ALFIO, a village carter (baritone) LOLA, his wife (mezzo-soprano)

Time period: Easter at the end of the 19th century. Setting: a village in Sicily. First performance: Rome, Teatro Costanzi, 17 May 1890.

The name "Cavalleria rusticana" is usually translated as "Rural Honor". This is the irony of fate, because there is no honor in the behavior of most of the characters in the opera. As for the novella by Giovanni Verga, it describes the behavior of the heroes even more barbaric than what we encounter in Mascagni’s opera.

Open, from enormous power expressed all-consuming passion - these are the qualities of the opera that immediately brought it incredible success. Of course, the literary merits of the libretto are also significant. Verga's novella was considered a small literary masterpiece. In addition, E. Duse, this brilliant actress, together with other actors, performed the dramatic version of this short story on stage with great success even before the opera was written. "Rural Honor" was the first and perhaps the most significant triumph in both literature and music of a movement called verismo, "a theory," to quote Webster, "which in art and literature emphasized the depiction of everyday life." everyday life, the psychological experiences of the characters, attention to dark sides lives of the urban and rural poor."

This small work was the first of three that received a prize in a competition announced by the publisher E. Sonzoño, and it overnight glorified no one at that time. famous composer, who was only twenty-seven years old. Even in New York there was a struggle for the right to have the first production of the opera. Oscar Hammerstein, a few years before he built his great Manhattan Opera House, paid $3,000 just to beat his rival producer Aronson, who arranged what was called a "public rehearsal" of the work on October 1, 1891. Hammerstein's performance took place that same evening. All this happened less than a year and a half after the Rome premiere. But by this time all of Italy had already heard it. In addition, it has already been shown in Stockholm, Madrid, Budapest, Hamburg, Prague, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Vienna, Bucharest, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen and Chicago (in the chronological order in which these cities are named) .

For more than half a century, Mascagni lived off the fame and income from the production of this little masterpiece. None of his other operas (and he wrote fourteen more) had a success that could even remotely compare with the success of "Rural Honor", but even so he died in 1945 in full glory and honor.