Opera After Verdi, the sentimental "realistic" melodrama of verismo appeared in Italy. This was a style introduced by Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana" and Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" that came to dominate the world's opera stages with such popular works as Giacomo Puccini's "La bohème", "Tosca", and "Madama Butterfly". Later Italian composers, such as Berio and Nono, have experimented with modernism. The first German opera was "Dafne", composed by Heinrich Schütz in 1627, but the music score has not survived. Italian opera held a great sway over German-speaking countries until the late 18th century. Nevertheless, native forms would develop in spite of this
San Diego Opera 2015 season consisting of three operas, "La boheme", "Don Giovanni", and John Adams' "Nixon in China", at the same time stating that its goal was to raise $6.5 million and that $4 million had already been raised (including $2.1 million from crowdfunding). In March 2015 the company announced the hiring of David Bennett, executive director of the Gotham Chamber Opera, as General Director of the San Diego Opera. He started on June 15, 2015. He was "tasked with downsizing and reimagining the company for 21st century audiences." He cut the company's budget from $18 million in 2014 to $10 million