Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana & Leoncavallo: Pagliacci

This is where two one-hit-wonders of nineteenth-century Italian opera meet. Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana was first performed in Rome in 1890 and Leoncavallo Pagliacci in Milan two years later. The subject of the Cavalleria rusticana is based on a then very popular peasant tragedy by Giovanni Verga. Pagliacci draws on the play “La femme de Tabarin” by Catulle Mendès, with the libretto by the composer. Both operas premiered on 29.09.2018 at the Oper Graz with the Grazer Philharmoniker under the direction of Oksana Lyniv.