Cavalleria rusticana Germany in 1909. As in live performances of the opera, recordings of the work have often been paired with Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci". In addition to the original Italian, recordings of the work in the English, French, German, and Hungarian languages have been released. Mascagni himself conducted the opera in two recordings, the better-known of which is the 1940 EMI recording made to mark the 50th anniversary of the opera's premiere. The performance by the La Scala orchestra and chorus with Lina Bruna Rasa as Santuzza and Beniamino Gigli as Turiddu also has a spoken introduction by Mascagni. Originally released as
Maria Duchêne pneumonia just as Maria was about to take the stage as Lola in "Cavalleria rusticana". Her final and 166th performance with the Met was as Ulrica in "Un ballo in maschera" in an out of town performance at the Boston Opera House on April 18, 1916. Details of her life after leaving the Met are unknown. Maria Duchêne Maria Duchêne-Billiard (1884 - ?) was a French contralto of the Metropolitan Opera from 1912 to 1916. She portrayed such roles as Amneris in "Aida", Giulietta in "The Tales of Hoffmann", Lola in "Cavalleria rusticana", Maddalena in "Rigoletto". She sang the role