Pietro Mascagni

Classical Music / Composer's Datebook: December 7

 

Pietro Mascagni is known for the lyrical “Easter Hymn” and the passionate but tragic interlude of "Intermezzo” from his opera Cavallaria Rusticana (Rustic chivalry.) The “Intermezzo” was used in the film “Raging Bull”.

 

Mascagni's Early Training

A baker’s son, Mascagni was born on December 7, 1863, in Livorno, Italy. His father wanted him to take up law so he studied music secretly. When his father found out, an uncle rescued and took him in his care. His musical ability was great that at 18 years old, the teenage Mascagni already wrote a symphony, a cantata and a mass. 

 

Mascagni's Formal Music Education

He formally studied at the Milan Conservatory where he shared lodging with Giacomo Puccini, both of them taught by composer Amilcare Ponchielli, famous for the opera La Gioconda.

 

Mascagni's Early Career

In 1884, he travelled by working as a conductor with a touring opera company, married, managed a small town school and give piano lessons.

 

Mascagni's and his Signature Opera Cavalleria Rusticana

In Rome on February 21, 1890, Mascagni was summoned to present his opera Cavalleria Rusticana. It had outstanding success winning the Sonzogno contest. Mascagni won first prize in a competition for one-act operas. The première of Cavalleria rusticana was held May 17 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. 

With this opera, he rose to immediate international acclaim. This one-act opera is based on a short story and a play. It is a tale of adultery, revenge and death, revolving around an Italian peasant. With Cavalleria Rusticana, the vogue for verismo (realism) was effectively established at that time.    

Below video:  Pietro Mascagni's 'Cavalleria rusticana - Intermezzo'.  Lim Kek-tjiang conducts Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. Accessed December 12, 2010.

Mascagni's Later Works

Although some numbers from L’amico Fritz and the oriental Iris have survived in the repertory, none of his succeeding operas was anything as successful as Cavalleria Rusticana. He once said: "It is a pity I wrote Cavalleria Rusticana first; I was crowned before I was king!" (Dictionary of Composers and Their Music by Eric Gilder, Sphere Reference, 1987.)  Mascagni's later works include the comedy Le maschere, the unexpectedly powerful Il piccolo Marat  and Nerone, this last testifying to his identification with fascism.  

 

Mascagni's musical legacy

Mascagni belonged to Puccini’s generation of Italian opera composers. During the last years of the 19th-century, they contributed to the movement called verismo (meaning realism), featuring stories of ordinary people rather than the traditional grand and noble themes. In a manner of a true Italian son, simple yet intense drama appealed to him. He died in Rome, 2nd of August, 1945. 

Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana ensures him a place in the history of opera.

 

Operas by Pietro Mascagni

Cavalleria rusticana ('Rustic Chivalry')  1888

L'amico Fritz ('Friend Friz')  1891

Iris 1898

La maschere  1901

Il Piccolo Marat  1921

Nerone ('Nero') 1934

 

Image Credit:

Pietro Mascagni. Karadar / Public Domain 

 Resources:

Dictionary of Composers and Their Music by Eric Gilder, Sphere Reference (1987)

The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Publishers (1994)

 

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