Cavalleria Rusticana – Intermezzo by P. Mascagni (piano solo arr.) with sheet music
Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) was born in Livorno, Italy, and attended the Milan Conservatory. However, he was dismissed in 1884, aged 21, for his lack of application. He then endured six years of poverty and obscurity touring as a conductor, then teaching and conducting in Cerignola, Puglia.
Here, in 1889, he heard of a competition sponsored by the music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno offering a prize for the best one-act opera written by a young Italian composer who had not yet had an opera performed. The competition had been announced the year before, and 26-year-old Mascagni heard about it only two months before the closing date.
For his story he chose Cavalleria Rusticana (‘Rustic Chivalry’), a passionate love tragedy that takes place on Easter morning by the Sicilian writer Giovanni Verga, which the author had already adapted into a play Mascagni had admired in Milan.
He asked his childhood friend Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, a poet and professor of literature, to provide a libretto. Time was of the essence so Targioni-Tozzetti and his colleague Guido Menasci immediately set to work, sending the lines to Mascagni as they went along, sometimes only a fragment on a postcard.
Mascagni recalled: ‘I received the verses a few at a time but I already had all the situation clear in my mind: I identified with the drama to such an extent that I felt it within myself in terms of music.’
It took the full two months for Pietro Mascagni to compose the score, and when the time came for him to submit it, his courage deserted him. Fearing failure, he put the music in a drawer, where it might have remained had his wife not sent it off.
It arrived at the last day for acceptance of entries. In all, 73 operas were submitted, and Cavalleria Rusticana was unanimously voted the winner by the five judges.
It opened on May 17, 1890, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, starring the renowned Italian tenor Roberto Stagno and soprano Gemma Bellincioni, one of the best known opera singers of the time. The house was half empty but the audience included the country’s most authoritative music critics and the Queen consort of Italy, Queen Margherita.
The work was a success from its opening notes. After Stagno’s rendition of one of the songs, the Siciliana, the audience leaped to their feet with thunderous applause. Several numbers had to be encored. Mascagni took 40 curtain calls.
The subsequent run was sold out, and many more productions followed. It opened in London at the Shaftesbury Theatre in October 1891 and had its Covent Garden premiere on 16 May 1892.
American producers fought, sometimes in the courts, to be the first to present the opera. It was premiered in Philadelphia at the Grand Opera House on September 9, 1891. In New York, two rival productions opened on the same day, October 1, 1891.
At the age of 27, the struggling composer became wealthy and famous overnight. Medals were struck in Mascagni’s honor; Livorno welcomed him home as a hero; the King of Italy bestowed on him the Order of the Crown of Italy – an honor even Verdi wasn’t given until middle age.
Mascagni wrote and produced 15 other operas but none came close to the spectacular success of Cavalleria Rusticana. At the end of his life he said: ‘It is a pity I wrote Cavalleria first for I was crowned before I became king.’
Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana – Intermezzo
Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
Mascagni had already had an operetta produced in Cremona and had been conducting opera for several seasons when he decided to enter a competition in 1888 for new one-act operas.
Please, subscribe to our Library.
If you are already a subscriber, please, check our NEW SCORES’ page every month for new sheet music. THANK YOU!
He had seen Giovanni Verga’s hit play Cavalleria rusticana (Country Chivalry) shortly after it had opened in 1884, and Mascagni now commissioned a libretto based on the play. This was completed in December 1888 and six months later Mascagni had his opera finished. One of 73 entries, it won the competition, and was first staged in Rome in May 1890.
This was perhaps the first opera to draw on the verismo literary movement, of which Verga was a major figure. Verismo opera placed an emphasis on true-to-life, regional characteristics and a quick narrative pace. Cavalleria rusticana takes place on Easter Sunday in a Sicilian village. Turiddu, a young peasant, has seduced and then abandoned Santuzza in favor of Lola, who is married to Alfio. Santuzza pleads with Turiddu to return to her; when he spurns her, she tells Alfio about Turiddu and Lola.
At this point the village square is empty, and the drama moves to the orchestra with this Intermezzo, played with the curtain up. The tune is based on a hymn heard earlier from within the village church, and its setting here suggests the both the peace of country living and the intense individual feelings of the principals.
It closes the Easter ceremony and foreshadows the coming tragedy. Turiddu and Lola come out of the church and enter his mother’s inn, where Alfio challenges him. After asking his mother to take care of Santuzza, Turiddu goes off-stage to meet Alfio, who kills him.
Best Sheet Music download from our Library.
Browse in the Library:
Artist or Composer / Score name | Cover | List of Contents |
---|---|---|
A dozen A Day Book 2 Technical exercises for the piano | ||
A dozen A Day Book 3 Technical exercises for the piano | ||
A dozen A Day Book 4 Technical exercises for the piano | ||
A dozen A Day Mini Book Technical exercises for the piano | ||
A dozen Day Preparatory Book Technical exercises for the piano | ||
A Farewell To Arms Love Theme From A Farewell To Arms film by Mario Nascimbene Francis Webster 1957 | ||
A Felicidade (Antonio Carlos Jobim) | ||
A Festival Gathering Of Carols (Musescore File).mscz | ||
A Fine Frenzy – Almost Lover | ||
A Fistful of Dollars (Ennio Morricone) | ||
A Generative Theory Of Tonal Music by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff (Book) | ||
A Guide To Guitar Chords by Curt Sheller | A Guide To Guitar Chords by Curt Sheller | |
A Guide To Musical Analysis by Nicholas Cook (Book) | ||
A Handbook Of Piano Playing (By Eric Hope) (1962) | ||
A Heart Full Of Love (Musescore File).mscz | ||
A love suicide (Yutaka Minobe) | ||
A Love Supreme (by Ashley Kahn) The story of john Coltrane’s signature album (Book) | ||
A Media Luz (Edgardo Donato) | ||
A Modern Approach To Jazz Rock And Fusion For Guitar with Tablature | A Modern Approach To Jazz Rock And Fusion For Guitar | |
A Modern Method For Guitar (Berklee) 1 by William Leavitt | A Modern Method Berklee 1 | |
A Modern Method For Guitar (Berklee) 2 by William Leavitt | A Modern Method For Guitar (Berklee) 2 | |
A Modern Method For Guitar (Berklee) 3 by William Leavitt | A Modern Method For Guitar (Berklee) 3 | |
A MOZART REINCARNATED (Ennio Morricone) | ||
A Mozart Reincarnated by Ennio Morricone (Musescore File).mscz | ||
A New Approach To Ear Training by Leo Kraft (BOOK) | ||
A New Approach To Piano Technique (By Ruth A. Dickerson) (1962) | A new approach to piano technique | |
A Night In Tunisia – Dizzy Gillespie.mscz | ||
A Pedal Method For The Piano (By Albert F Venino) (1893) | ||
A Popular Account Of Ancient Musical Instruments And Their Development by William Lynd (Book 1897) | ||
A Rockin’ Christmas Piano Vocal Guitar | 20 songs to sing on a rockin’ Christmas Eve Includes: All I Want for Christmas Is You * Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer * Happy Xmas (War Is Over) * Jingle-Bell Rock * Merry Merry Christmas Baby * Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree * Santa Baby & moreRockin Christmas | |
A Single Man – George’s Waltz (Shigeru Umebayashi) | ||
A Single Man – Stillness of the Mind (Abel Korzeniowski) | ||
A Smooth Jazz Christmas – Mellow Seasonal Favorites for Piano arr. Roger House | A Smooth Jazz Christmas – Mellow Seasonal Favorites for Piano arr. Roger House | |
A Song For You – Leon Russell Ray Charles (Musescore File).mscz | ||
A Star Is Born – Always Remember Us This Way Lady Gaga | ||
A Star Is Born – Shallow Lady Lady Gaga | ||
A Tale Of Two Sisters Ost – Epilogue Piano Solo | ||
A Thousand Years – Twilight OST (Christina Perri) | ||
A Time For Love – Johnny Mandel | ||
A Time For Us – Guitar TABlature | ||
A Time For Us (Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet) Nino Rota | ||
A Time For Us (Romeo and Juliet OST) Nino Rota | ||
A Touch Of Jazz 14 well-known hymns, gospel songs and contemporary praise songs by Wolaver Bill | A Touch Of Jazz 14 well-known hymns, gospel songs and contemporary praise songs by Wolaver Bill | |
A Tribute To Ella Fitzgerald Piano Vocal Guitar | A tribute to ELLA FITZGERALD | |
A Walk To Remember – Only Hope | ||
A whiter shade of pale – Procul Harum | A whiter shade of pale – Procul Harum | |
AaRON U-turn Lili Piano | ||
Ab Ovo – Joep Beving (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Abba – Abba Gold – Greatest Hits | ABBA Gold Geatest Hits booksong sheet music | |
Abba – Chiquitita | ||
Abba – Dancing Queen | ||
Abba – Fernando | ||
Abba – I Have A Dream | ||
Abba – Like An Angel Passing Through My Room | ||
Abba – Mamma Mia | ||
Abba – Slipping Through My Fingers | ||
Abba – Thank You For The Music | Abba-Thank-You-For-The-Music 1st page | |
ABBA – Thank You For The Music (Piano Vocal Guitar) | ABBA – Thank You For The Music (Piano Vocal Guitar) | |
ABBA – Thank You For the Music (Piano vocal Guitar) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Abba – Thank You For The Music Piano & vocal | Abba – Thank You For The Music-abba-satb | |
Abba – The Winner Takes It All | ||
ABBA Dancing Queen Easy Piano Solo | ||
ABBA Fernando (Piano Solo arr.) | ||
ABBA Fernando (Piano Solo arr.).mscz | ||
ABBA Greatest Hits | ABBA GREATEST HITS SHEET MUSIC BOOK | |
ABBA I Have A Dream | ||
Abba The Very Best Vol 1 Easy Piano Hans Gunter Heumann Pop Classics For Piano | Abba The Very Best Vol 1 Easy Piano | |
Abba The Very Best Vol 2 Easy Piano Hans Gunter Heumann Pop Classics For Piano | Abba The Very Best Vol 2 Easy Piano | |
Abbey Lincoln Songbook | Abbey Lincoln Songbook | |
Abbey Lincoln Songbook Piano Vocal Guitar Chords | Abbey Lincoln Songbook Piano Vocal Guitar Chords | |
Abdullah Ibrahim – The Piano World Of | Abdullah Ibrahim, The Piano World Of | |
Abdullah Ibrahim The African Piano Of Abdullah Ibrahim Vol 1 | Abdullah Ibrahim The African Piano Of Abdullah Ibrahim Vol 1 | |
Abdullah Ibrahim The Wedding (piano solo transcription sheet music, partition) | ||
Abel Korzeniowski – Death Is My Heir (from Romeo and Juliet) | ||
ABRSM Jazz Piano Pieces Grade 1 to 5 | ABRSM Jazz Piano Pieces Grade 1 to 5 ABRSM Jazz Piano Pieces Grade 5ABRSM Jazz Piano Pieces Grade 5 | |
ABRSM Piano Exam Pieces Grade 1 (2016) | ABRSM Piano Exam Pieces Grade 1 (2016) | |
ABRSM Piano Scales, Arpeggios Grade 8 | ||
ABRSM Piano Scales, Arpeggios and broken chords Grade 1 | ||
ABRSM Piano Scales, Arpeggios and broken chords Grade 4 | ABRSM Piano Scales, Arpeggios and broken chords Grade 4 | |
ABRSM Piano Scales, Grade 2 A Guide for Students and Teachers | ABRSM Piano Scales, Grade 2 A Guide for Students and Teachers | |
ABRSM – Time pieces for guitar vol. 1 | ||
ABRSM – Time pieces for guitar vol. 2 | ||
ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 1 | ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 1 | |
ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 2 | ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 2 | |
ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 3 | ||
ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 4 | ||
ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 5 | ||
ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 6 | ||
ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 7 | ||
ABRSM 2017 18 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 8 | ||
ABRSM 2021-2022 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 1 | ||
ABRSM 2021-2022 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 2 | ||
ABRSM 2021-2022 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 3 | ||
ABRSM 2021-2022 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 5 | ||
ABRSM 2021-2022 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 6 | ||
ABRSM 2021-2022 Piano Exam Pieces Grade 8 | ||
ABRSM 2021-2022 Piano Exam Pieces Initial Grade | ABRSM 2021-2022 Piano Exam Pieces Initial Grade | |
ABRSM Aural Training In Practice Book 1 Grades 1 to 3 | ||
ABRSM Aural Training In Practice Book 2 Grades 4 and 5 | ||
ABRSM Discovering Music Theory (Complete) Grades 1 to 5 Workbook by Simon Rushby (2020 Exams) | ABRSM Discovering Music Theory (Complete) Grades 1 to 5 Workbook by Simon Rushby (2020 Exams) contents | |
ABRSM Erster Verlust Grade 4 ABRSM Piano Exam Pieces 2021 & 2022 | ||
ABRSM Etude In A Minor – Dmitry Kabalevsky ABRSM Grade 4 Piano Exam Pieces 2021 & 2022 | ||
ABRSM Grade 2 – Inter-City Stomp byChristopher Norton From Microjazz Collection (Sheet Music) | ||
ABRSM Initial Grade Piano Exam Pieces 2023 2024 | ||
ABRSM Minuet and Trio D 41 No 21 – Franz Schubert ABRSM Grade 4 Piano Exam Pieces 2021 & 2022 | ||
ABRSM More Music Theory Sample Papers Grade 5 For New Format | ||
ABRSM Music Theory In Practice, Grade 1 (Eric Taylor) | ||
ABRSM Music Theory In Practice, Grade 2 (Eric Taylor) | ||
ABRSM Music Theory Past Papers Grade 1 2004 | ||
ABRSM Music Theory Past Papers Grade 4 2016 | ||
ABRSM Music Theory Past Papers Grade 5 2012 | ||
ABRSM Music Theory Past Papers Grade 6 2013 | ||
ABRSM Nikki Iles Danny Boy ABRSM Piano Exam Grade 8 2023 Jazz Piano arr. inspired by Bill Evans | ||
ABRSM Nikki Iles Friends Book 1 Intermediate Jazz Pieces For Piano | ABRSM Nikki Iles Friends Book 1 Intermediate Jazz Pieces For Piano | |
ABRSM Nikki Iles Friends Book 2 Intermediate To Advanced Jazz Pieces For Piano | ABRSM Nikki Iles Friends Book 2 Intermediate To Advanced Jazz Pieces For Piano | |
ABRSM Nikki Iles The Elephant Parade ABRSM piano Exam | ||
ABRSM Piano 2025-2026 Grade 8 C3 A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square by Sherwin – Maschwitz | ||
ABRSM Piano Exam 2007-2008 Grade 3 | ||
ABRSM Piano Exam 2015-16 Grade 3 | ABRSM Piano Exam 2015-16 Grade 3 | |
ABRSM Piano Exam 2023-24 Grade 3 C3 THE ENTERTAINER – SCOTT JOPLIN |