Giovanni Verga in the Fields"), including ""Fantasticheria"" ("Daydreaming"), ""La lupa"" ("The She-wolf"), ""Jeli il pastore"" ("Jeli the Shepherd"), ""Pentolaccia"" ("The Plaything"), and "Rosso Malpelo", most of which were about rural Sicily, came out. It also included ""Cavalleria rusticana"" ("Rustic Chivalry"), which he adapted for the theatre and later formed the basis for several opera librettos including Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana" and Gastaldon's "Mala Pasqua!". Verga's short story, ""Malaria"", was one of the first literary depictions of the disease malaria. He then embarked on a projected series of five novels, but only completed two, "I Malavoglia" and "Mastro-don Gesualdo" (1889), the second of which
Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company The Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company (PCGOC) was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was actively performing at the Academy of Music between 1950 and 1955. Fausta Cleva served as the company's first General Director and conductor. The company's first performance was of Camille Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila" on January 24, 1950 with Giovanni Martinelli as Samson, Blanche Thebom as Dalila, Martial Singher as The High Priest of Dagon, and John Lawler as Abimélech. Other operas presented that season were "Cavalleria rusticana", "L'amico Fritz", and "Carmen". Cleva left the PCGOC after its