Francesco Cilea Pubblica Istruzione (Department of Education). In 1889, for his final examination at the end of his course of study, he submitted his opera "Gina", with a libretto by Enrico Golisciani which was adapted from the old French play "Catherine, ou La Croix d'or" by Baron Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville (1787—1865). This "melodramma idilico" was performed in the college theatre, and it attracted the attention of the publishers Sonzogno, who arranged for a second production, in Florence, in 1892. Sonzogno also then commissioned from Cilea "La Tilda", a verismo opera in three short acts along the lines of Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana".
Myrna Sharlow Don José. In the spring of 1914 Sharlow made her European debut in Paris as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" with Henry Russell's opera company in that city. She was also heard there as Santuzza in "Cavalleria rusticana". She also made appearances that year at the Paris Opera and the Berlin State Opera. In July 1914 she sang at the Royal Opera House in London in the English premiere of Riccardo Zandonai's "Francesca da Rimini". "The Times" stated in their review, "A special word of praise seems due to Miss Myrna Sharlow, who as Samaritana sang with an appealing freshness