Pietro Mascagni Somalia. In 1940, celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of his most popular opera, "Cavalleria rusticana", took place all over Italy, often with Mascagni conducting. The opera was recorded for "La Voce del padrone" ("His Master's Voice") at La Scala under the direction of Mascagni, who recorded a special spoken introduction. EMI later reissued the recording on LP and CD. In 1942, after an audience with Pope Pius XII, newspapers quoted Mascagni, a Roman Catholic, as saying that his tuberculosis-stricken niece was cured after receiving a rosary and silver medal blessed by the pope. In April 1943, Mascagni appeared for the
Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company the 1925-1926 season including Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" (with Rosalinda Rudko-Morini in the title role, Giuseppe Reschiglian as Edgardo, and Emanuel Nugnez as Enrico), Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida" (with Alice Eversman in the title role and Bernardo de Muro as Radames), Verdi's "Rigoletto", "Cavalleria rusticana" (with Emilia Vergeri as Santuzza), and "Pagliacci" (with Nicola Zerola as Canio) among others. After its first season, Francesco Pelosi was appointed General Manager and Artistic Director of the company in 1926. For the second season the company was renamed the Philadelphia La Scala Grand Opera Company which it performed under until 1938 when the