Cavalleria rusticana libretto, sending it to Mascagni in fragments, sometimes only a few verses at a time on the back of a postcard. The opera was finally submitted on the last day that entries would be accepted. In all, 73 operas were submitted, and on 5 March 1890, the judges selected the final three: Niccola Spinelli's "Labilia", Vincenzo Ferroni's "Rudello", and Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana". There have been two other operas based on Verga's story. The first, "Mala Pasqua!" (Bad Easter!) by Stanislao Gastaldon, was entered in the same competition as Mascagni's. However, Gastaldon withdrew it when he received an opportunity to have
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