Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) by Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), a tragic one-act Italian opera composed in 1890. Like Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana also cultivated a new style in the late 19th-century Italian literary movement called verismo, meaning 'realism' or 'truthful.'
The opera depicts life in a Sicilian village where love, betrayal and integrity come about. The mood is set with a chorus and an Easter hymn, together with arias and duets that drive the tragic drama. Santuzza's "Voi lo sapete, o mamma" is a best-known solo. Cavalleria Rusticana include the passionate devotional hymn "Easter Chorus" and "Peasants' Chorus."
