composition. Musical verismo emphasizes drama, emotions, and the text, rather than just melodies, however beautiful, or the vocal skills of the soloists. The new style sought to create an opera that approached the natural structure of dramatic text, through continuous writing rather than the closed musical forms that were the norm until then. Verismo composers divided their operas into entire acts rather than distinct "numbers" and segments like arias, duets, choirs, and so on. In some cases, there is not even a single pause from the beginning to the end of an act. In most cases, verismo operas take place within a defined and often short period of time, and in a specific, relevant location. The newmovement incorporated local sounds from the fictional world of the story. In our case, the traditional Sicilian village. So why is Cavalleria Rusticana considered such a milestone? What was Mascagni’s groundbreaking innovation that influenced so many operas that came after it? In Cavalleria Rusticana, Mascagni takes a significant step toward verismo, in terms of both plot and music. The story takes place in a specific location with clear and rigid social conventions. The social environment of the main characters influences them and drives them to act as they do: Santuzza, trapped in a relationship that harms her, Turiddu, who wants to return to his previous life and his lover, and Alfio, the proud man who cannot tolerate his wife’s betrayal. The village community is also present on stage. Villagers come to the main square, participate in the Easter service and celebrations, and essentially provide the background for the events throughout the opera. The action takes place specifically during Easter, and Mascagni uses the ritual of the village's celebrations, especially the religious ones, in his writing. Even the duration of the opera is aligned with the length of a typical church service, and the events could feasibly take place in real life during that time. For example, the famous intermezzo occurs while the villagers are still in the church, essentially "filling time" until the service ends and they leave. Additionally, the duel does not take place onstage, as it wouldn’t occur in the village square. We hear and see no evidence of it until the news of Turiddu’s death arrive via a shout from one of the village women. Mascagni incorporates local folk music without Western filters through three songs that resemble the popular folk songs of the time. The first is Siciliana, a local song sung by Turiddu at the opening of the opera. The second is the song “Oh, the Iris flower”, which comes from the Tuscany region, sung by Lola to taunt Santuzza. Lola learned the song from Turiddu, who had spent time in Tuscany during his military service and was the only person in the village who knew it. This song, foreign to the village setting, has great dramatic significance. The third song is the drinking song sung by Turiddu with the villagers, which, unlike previous drinking songs, is composed in the local style. Through these three songs, Mascagni grounds the opera in the contemporary reality of the audience. Another significant musical step Mascagni takes lies in the melodic lines he writes. The purpose of these melodies is not to showcase the technical abilities of the singers, as was common in operas before, but to characterize the souls and highlight the emotions of the characters directly. Even the choral sections are written in a relatively simple style, as they represent the villagers. Even their text is written in relatively colloquial language. Moreover, Cavalleria Rusticana is not written as one continuous act, as later verismo operas would be. It has distinct sections and pauses at the end of identifiable segments, such as the grand Easter chorus or Santuzza’s aria, at the conclusion of which the music stops completely. Furthermore, Mascagni doesn’t completely abandon the use of
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