Cavalleria Rusticana (1959 film) the searching eye of the camera. Cavalleria Rusticana (1959 film) Cavalleria Rusticana is a 1959 Australian TV play, an adaptation of the opera by Pietro Mascagni. It was directed by Alan Burke. Music was provided by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Georg Tintner. In a Sicilian village, the peasant girl Santuzza falls for the tanner Turiddu. However he tires of her and returns to his old love, Lola. To get revenge, Santuzza tells Lola's husband Alfio about the love affair, resulting in a duel with knives between Alfio and Turiddu. It was the fourth live opera from the ABC
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