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."

Maria Callas: "Voi lo sapete" Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni)

Maria Callas sings "Voi lo sapete, o mamma"; Santuzza's aria from Cavalleria Rusticana:

Role: Santuzza, a peasant girl
Voice Part: soprano
Fach: spinto
Setting: Easter Sunday in the main square of a Sicilian village, Italy, late 1800s
Range: B4 to A6. Tessitura : F4 to G5
Synopsis: Santuzza tells Mamma Lucia that when her son left to join the Army, he promised to marry Lola. When he came back, however, Lola had married someone else. So, he fell in love with Santuzza which made Lola so jealous that she has stolen him away from Santuzza.

English Translation

You know, mamma, that
Before he went off to be a soldier
Turiddu swore to Lola
To be eternally faithful
He returned to find her married;
And with a new love
He wanted to extinguish the flame
That burnt in his heart:
He loved me, I loved him.
She, envious of my happiness,
Forgotten by her husband,
Burning with jealousy,
She stole him from me.
I am left, dishonoured:
Lola and Turiddu love each other,
And I weep!