Domenico Monleone Domenico Monleone Domenico Monleone (January 4, 1875 – 15 January 1942) was an Italian composer of operas, most noted for his opera "Cavalleria rusticana" of 1907, which for a while rivalled the success of Mascagni's work of the same name which was from the same source. The work was the third opera to be based on Verga’s 1884 theatrical adaptation of his own short story, "Cavalleria rusticana", Stanislao Gastaldon’s "Mala Pasqua" (1888) being the first, and Mascagni's famous opera (1890) being the second. Mascagni and his lawyers intervened and Monleone changed the opera ‘beyond recognition’ setting the music to a
Idloes Owen Wales Theatre, Cardiff. Owen as Musical Director conducted the first performance, "Cavalleria rusticana", which included the Welsh tenor Robert Tear who started his career as a schoolboy in this performance. In 1948 the Welsh National Opera became a limited company and established another centre in Swansea. In 1951 the company made its first tour of Wales. In January 1950 Idloes Owen invited an astute businessman Bill Smith a former secretary of the defunct Cardiff Grand Opera to be his partner to develop the potential of the new company. Smith immediately responded by booking the young Charles Mackerras as conductor to