This is Pietro Mascagni's most popular opera. The Libretto is by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, after the novella and the play of the same name by Giovanni Verga. It was first performed May 17, 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, after he sent the opera in for a competition for unpublished one-act operas.
The protagonists in this one-act melodramma include:
- Santuzza una giovane contadina (a peasant girl), soprano
- Turiddu un giovane contadino (a peasant boy), tenor
- Lucia sua madre (mother of Turiddu and an innkeeper), contralto/soprano
- Alfio un carrettiere (a carrier), baritone
- Lola sua moglie (Alfio's wife), mezzo-soprano
The scenes are as follows (you can actually read the
whole text in
Italian if you'd like, at www.karadar.com or at www.r-ds.com/opera):