Pietro Mascagni incorporated into the music. Notes Sources Pietro Mascagni Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni (; 7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece "Cavalleria Rusticana" caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the "Verismo" movement in Italian dramatic music. While it was often held that Mascagni, like Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, "L'amico Fritz" and "Iris" have remained in the repertoire in Europe (especially Italy) since their premieres. Mascagni said that at one point, "Iris" was performed in
Myrna Sharlow Don José. In the spring of 1914 Sharlow made her European debut in Paris as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" with Henry Russell's opera company in that city. She was also heard there as Santuzza in "Cavalleria rusticana". She also made appearances that year at the Paris Opera and the Berlin State Opera. In July 1914 she sang at the Royal Opera House in London in the English premiere of Riccardo Zandonai's "Francesca da Rimini". "The Times" stated in their review, "A special word of praise seems due to Miss Myrna Sharlow, who as Samaritana sang with an appealing freshness