Giacomo Puccini line. "Verismo" is a style of Italian opera that began in 1890 with the first performance of Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana", peaked in the early 1900s, and lingered into the 1920s. The style is distinguished by realistic – sometimes sordid or violent – depictions of everyday life, especially the life of the contemporary lower classes. It by and large rejects the historical or mythical subjects associated with Romanticism. "Cavalleria rusticana", "Pagliacci", and "Andrea Chénier" are uniformly considered to be "verismo" operas. Puccini's career as a composer is almost entirely coincident in time with the "verismo" movement. Only his "Le Villi" and
Paul Hansen (tenor) Copenhagen where he became a music teacher. He later moved to Helsinki where he died in 1967 at the age of 81. In 1917 Hansen appeared in his film debut, "Cavalleria Rusticana", based on the opera of the same name. His co-star on "Cavalleria Rusticana" was mezzo-soprano Emma Vilmar, who took the role of Lucia. The two became a couple and were later married. His early cinema appearances were all made in Germany and were translations of popular operas. From 1919 Hansen began appearing in cinema dramas, and that year he starred in the silent film "The Woman at the