F<\/span>or a relatively short opera (of around 75 minutes), Cavalleria rusticana<\/i> packs a sensational punch with its torrid tale of sexual jealousy and deadly violence. The work was created over two months of furious activity to meet the deadline for a competition organised by music publishers Casa Sonzogno.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mascagni set a story by a contemporary writer, Giovanni <\/span>Verga, whose gritty novels and plays concern themselves with the dark passions lurking within ordinary lives in rural Sicily. Out of 73 entries, three one-act operas were selected for the final in Rome. Mascagni\u2019s work was a convincing winner. On opening night in 1890, the 26-year-old composer took 40 curtain calls, propelling him to international fame and establishing \u2018verismo\u2019 as a new operatic genre that would pave the way for Puccini.<\/a><\/strong> Mascagni composed 16 other works for stage, but none achieved the popular success of his first opera.<\/span><\/p>\n
The best recordings of Cavalleria rusticana<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Herbert von Karajan<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Carlo Bergonzi, Fiorenza Cossotto, Giangiacomo Guelfi; La Scala Chorus & Orchestra (1965)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
DG 457 7642 \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
Cavalleria rusticana<\/i> is one of the most recorded operas. Many versions have been remastered for CD and there is an impressive roll call of great singers and conductors available to the listener today. Herbert von Karajan\u2019s 1965 Deutsche Grammophon recording, with tenor Carlo Bergonzi as the emotionally feckless Turiddu and Fiorenza Cossotto as the deeply-wronged Santuzza, stands out on account of its lovingly detailed realisation of the score, avoiding sentimentality while letting the passion flood out.<\/span><\/p>\n
Karajan takes real care to bring clarity and definition to music that in the wrong hands can leave you wallowing in emotional treacle. With steady tempos, he builds up tension to a taut, shockingly violent conclusion. His graphic handling of orchestral texture brings the world of Cavalleria<\/i> to life, with every nuance of light and colour brought into focus in the playing of La Scala\u2019s orchestra.<\/span><\/p>\n
Cossotto is quite outstanding, surely one of the finest mezzos on record. Here she sings with exquisite pathos and dramatic intensity, meltingly sweet in \u2018Voi lo sapete\u2019 and viciously compelling in \u2018A te la mala Pasqua\u2019, the curse she hurls at Turiddu at the church door. Bergonzi stops short of rough-edged sexual allure, but brings instead an elegance that captures something of Turiddu\u2019s duplicitous charm, while Giangiacomo Guelfi gives Alfio a confident swagger.<\/span><\/p>\n