Cavalleria rusticana on stage. They were invited to submit a one-act opera which would be judged by a jury of five prominent Italian critics and composers. The best three would be staged in Rome at Sonzogno's expense. Mascagni heard about the competition only two months before the closing date and asked his friend Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, a poet and professor of literature at the Italian Royal Naval Academy in Livorno, to provide a libretto. Targioni-Tozzetti chose "Cavalleria rusticana", a popular short story (and play) by Giovanni Verga, as the basis for the opera. He and his colleague Guido Menasci set about composing the
Mildred Miller Met was on December 3, 1974 as Lola in "Cavalleria rusticana" with Elinor Ross as Santuzza, Harry Theyard as Turiddu, and John Nelson conducting. While performing at the Met, Miller also appeared as a guest artist on the stages of many opera houses throughout the world. She was a frequent performer at the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt from 1959-1973. She also made appearances at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cincinnati Opera, San Antonio Grand Opera Festival, Pittsburgh Opera, Kansas City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and Opera Pasadena. She was a busy recitalist as well, appearing in concerts