Cavalleria rusticana Cavalleria rusticana Cavalleria rusticana (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 and subsequent play by Giovanni Verga. Considered one of the classic "verismo" operas, it premiered on 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called "Cav/Pag" double-bill with "Pagliacci" by Ruggero Leoncavallo. In July 1888 the Milanese music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno announced a competition open to all young Italian composers who had not yet had an opera performed
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