TUESDAY April 11, 7:30 p.m. (finishing at approx 10:45 p.m.)

  CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA  

An melodramma in one act

by Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)

Libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci after Giovanni Verga

First performed at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 19 May 1890

with   I PAGLIACCI  

Dramma in a prologue and two acts

by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919)

Libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo

First performed at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on 21 May 1892

Cast (Cavalleria Rusticana)

Turiddu, a young villager

Santuzza, a peasant girl

Lucia, his mother, an innkeeper

Alfio, a carrier

Lola, Alfio's wife

Turridu's son

Jonas Kaufmann, tenor

Liudmyla Monastyrska, soprano

Stefania Toczyska, contralto

Ambrogio Maestri, baritone

Annalisa Stroppa, mezzo-soprano

Paul Clementi

Cast (I Pagliacci)

Canio, head of the troupe

Nedda, his wife

Tonio, a clown

Beppe, a player

Silvio, a villager

Jonas Kaufmann, tenor

Maria Agresta, soprano

Dimitri Platanias, baritone

Tansel Akzeybek, tenor

Alessio Arduini, baritone

Production

A 2015 production from the Salzburg Festival

Direction and Stage Design by Philipp Stölzl

Costume design by Ursula Kudrna

Lighting design by Heinz Ilsanker

The Dresden Staatskapelle
conducted by Christian Thielemann

Synopses

CAVALLERIA  RUSTICANA is set in the square of a Sicilian village on an Easter Sunday morning about 1880

(Turridu has returned to his village from military service hoping to marry Lola, whom  he is in love with. But on finding that she is already married to Alfio, the market gardener, he seduces Santuzza, only to betray her after Lola beguiles him into becoming her lover.)

The opera begins with an orchestral prelude which indicates a serenade in praise of Lola sung by Turridu. The men and women of the village pass through the square, greeting the Easter morning. Santuzza asks Mamma Lucia for news of her son, Turridu who has not been seen in the village but does not visit her any more.

Alfio arrives and is greeted by the villagers who sing an Easter hymn before entering the church. Santuzza is deeply upset, and tells Lucia the story of her betrayal by Turridu; her honour is lost and she has little hope of winning him back. She waits for him and pleads with him not to abandon her totally. Lola makes fun of them on her way to church. Irritated by Santuzza’s persistence, Turridu eventually flings her to the ground and runs into the church after Lola. Alfio approaches and in her anger Santuzza tells him of his wife’s infidelity. Alfio, enraged, swears immediate revenge.

Following the Intermezzo, the congregation pours out of the church. Turridu invites his friends to drink with him When Alfio comes along he coldly rebuffs Turridu’s offer of a drink. In Sicilian fashion Turridu challenges Alfio to a duel by biting his right ear. Turridu says farewell to his mother and asks her to look after Santuzza should he not return. He goes off to fight, leaving his mother alone. Filled with remorse and despair Santuzza rushes in but the calamity is inevitable.

I PAGLIACCI begins with a prologue in which the clown Tonio appears before the curtain and to briefly outline to the audience the purpose of the piece.

Act One: The travelling players - Canio at the head with his young wife Nedda, Beppe, and the deformed Tonio - arrive at the village square and are joyously greeted by the crowd. The performance is to be at eleven that evening. Canio watches jealously over Nedda. Tonio gallantly pays court to Canio’s wife, getting a box on the ears from the husband.

The villagers go with Canio and Beppe to the inn, and tease the actor over his jealously. Canio swears he will kill Nedda, should she be unfaithful to him. Nedda is conscience-stricken: she is secretly in love with Silvio, a young man from the village. When Tonio again becomes importunate, she attacks him. Tonio leaves to contemplate revenge.

Silvio comes to Nedda to discuss their plans to elope that night. Tonio has overheard everything and fetches Canio, who sets off in pursuit of the fugitive, but fails to catch him. In vain he attempts to learn his name from Nedda.  Tonio and Beppe prevent him from carrying out his threat to stab her. Canio breaks down in despair.

Act Two: Meanwhile a stage has been erected in the village square. It is evening, and the villagers, among them Silvio, have taken their seats. The play to be performed mirrors the day’s events. Columbine, who knows that her husband Pagliaccio is away, hears the courting-song of her lover Harlequin (Beppe) and beckons him. Instead, the bearish Taddeo enters and propositions her, but is driven out by Harlequin. Pagliaccio (Canio) returns, he is unable to distinguish between fact and fiction. He grows more and more frantic. Realising that Nedda will never name her lover, he stabs her. Silvio rushes to her aid, and Canio recognises him as his rival.