Cavalleria rusticana discography introduction by Mascagni. Originally released as an LP, it is available on CD under several historical recording labels, including Naxos. For extensive annotated discographies of "Cavalleria rusticana", see: Cavalleria rusticana discography This is a discography of "Cavalleria rusticana", an opera by Pietro Mascagni. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 17 May 17, 1890. There have been over 100 full-length recordings of "Cavalleria rusticana" published since it was first recorded in Germany in 1909. Mascagni himself has conducted the opera in two recordings, the best-known of which is the 1940 EMI recording made to mark the 50th anniversary
Mala Pasqua! his attention to composing his first opera, "Fatma", an opera-ballet in four acts. However, he set the project aside in 1888 when the music publisher Sonzogno announced a competition for one-act operas, open to all young Italian composers who had not yet had an opera performed on stage. The three winners (selected by a jury of prominent critics and composers) would be staged in Rome at Sonzogno's expense. Gastaldon decided to enter with an opera based on "Cavalleria rusticana". His librettist, Giovanni Domenico Bartocci-Fontana, a lawyer by training and a poet by inclination, wrote to Verga asking permission to adapt