Cavalleria Rusticana

Last weekend I went to visit the Teatro Antico di Taormina, (the ancient Greek theatre of Taormina).

I visited just as the sun was starting to set behind a cloudy Mount Etna. The previous night there had been a performance of Madame Butterfly and another performance of this beautiful opera was to be performed again the following night.

The Greek Theatre is the most perfect venue for operas as the stage has natural scenery as background, Mount Etna and the Bay of Naxos can be seen through the ancient columns behind the stage and orchestra pit and it has the most amazing acoustics.

Taormina Arte and Opera season is now in full swing.

Cavalleria Rusticana was the first performance I ever experienced at the Greek theatre. It is a mesmerizing love story with a tragic ending and the most haunting beautiful orchestral music to accompany it.

The Greek theatre is my favourite place in Taormina and I could sit there for hours taking in the history and the spectacular views, so on this balmy Sicilian summer evening I sat on one of the ancient steps for a moment and thought about the story of Cavalleria Rusticana.

The opera was written by the composer Pietro Mascagni and was adapted from a play and short story by Giovanni Verga.The story takes place in a 19^th century Sicilian village on Easter morning.

A young villager named Turiddu has returned from military service to find that his fiancée Lola has married the local carter Alfio while he was away.

In revenge, Turiddu seduces Santuzza, a young woman in the village. As the opera begins, Lola, overcome by her jealousy of Santuzza, has begun an adulterous affair with Turiddu.

The stage is set as the village main square. Offstage, Turiddu is heard singing “O Lola, lovely as the spring’s bright blooms" (O Lola c'hai di latti la cammisa). To one side of the stage is the village church; to the other is Tirridu’s mother Lucia’s wine shop and the house where he lives with her. The villagers move about the square, singing of the beautiful spring day (Gli aranci olezzano sui verdi margini ("The air is sweet with orange blossoms").

Santuzza, having slept with Turiddu and suspecting that he has betrayed her for Lola, is distraught and approaches Lucia as she comes out of her house. Santuzza asks for Turiddu, but Lucia tells her that he has gone to another town to fetch some wine. Santuzza then tells Lucia that Turiddu was seen during the night in the village. Lucia asks her inside the house to talk, but just at that moment Alfio arrives on his wagon, accompanied by the villagers. He sings praising the joys of a carter’s life and the beauty of his bride Lola. Alfio asks Lucia for some of her fine wine. She tells him it has run out and Turiddu has gone away to buy more. Alfio replies that he had seen Turiddu early that morning near his cottage. Lucia starts to express surprise, but Santuzza stops her.

Alfio leaves and the villagers sing an Easter Hymn in the square, joined by Santuzza. The villagers enter the church and Santuzza and Lucia remain outside. Lucia asks Santuzza why she signaled her to remain silent when Alfio said that he had seen Turiddu that morning. Santuzza exclaims, “Voi lo sapete “ ("Now you shall know"), and tells Lucia the story of her seduction by Turiddu and his affair with Lola. Lucia pities Santuzza, whom the villagers are considering excommunicating for her seduction. Santuzza cannot enter the church, but begs Lucia to go inside and pray for her.

Turiddu then arrives. Santuzza berates him for pretending to have gone away, when he was actually seeing Lola. Lola then enters the square singing. She mocks Santuzza and goes inside the church.

Turiddu turns to follow Lola, but Santuzza begs him to stay. Turiddu pushes her away and she clings to him. He loosens her hands, throws her to the ground, and enters the church. Alfio arrives looking for Lola. Santuzza tells him that his wife has betrayed him with Turiddu. Alfio swears to take vendetta (revenge) which causes Santuzza to repent for having disclosed the affair and begs Alfio to stop but to no avail.

The square is empty as the orchestra plays the famous Intermezzo.

The villagers come out of the church. Turiddu is in high spirits because he is with Lola and Santuzza appears to have gone. He invites his friends to his mother’s wine shop where he sings a drinking song, “Viva, il vino spumeggiante” ("Hail to the bubbling wine"). Alfio joins them. Turiddu offers him wine, but Alfio refuses it. The villagers understand that trouble is in the air, the women leave, taking Lola with them.

In a brief exchange of words, Alfio challenges Turiddu to a duel. Following Sicilian custom, the two men embrace, and Turiddu, in a token of acceptance, bites Alfio’s ear, drawing blood which signifies a fight to the death. Alfio leaves and Turiddu calls Lucia back. He tells his mother that he is going outside to get some air and asks that she be a kindly mother to Santuzza if he should not return: “Un bacio, mamma! Un altro bacio! Addio!” – "One kiss, mother! One more kiss! Farewell!".

Turiddu rushes out. Lucia, weeping, wanders aimlessly around outside her house. Santuzza approaches and throws her arms around her. The villagers start to crowd around. Voices are heard in the distance and a woman cries, "They have murdered Turiddu!" Santuzza faints and Lucia collapses in the arms of the women villagers. The women then all raise their shawls to cover their heads.

The End.

The opera is also famous for being used in the movie The Godfather Part III, when Michael Corleone’s son Anthony gets the part of Turiddu at a performance of the opera at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. The whole family travel to Sicily to watch him.

The movie ends tragically when after Vincent seeks revenge during the performance an assassin dressed as a priest and armed with a sniper rifle descends upon the opera house to murder Michael and ends up eliminating three of Vincent’s men but is unable to shoot Michael. The assassin retreats to the opera house steps outside. As the family leave the opera house he fires twice, intending to murder Michael but kills Michael’s beloved daughter Mary instead. At this point the Intermezzo from the opera is played as the family mourn the death of Mary and the scene changes to an elderly Michael remembering all the women which he has lost in his life.