Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Maria Callas: "Voi lo sapete", by Mascagni

Maria Callas sings "Voi lo sapete" from Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. NHK Tokio 1974 with very good best sound quality.



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."