Pietro Mascagni Pietro Mascagni Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni (; 7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece "Cavalleria Rusticana" caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the "Verismo" movement in Italian dramatic music. While it was often held that Mascagni, like Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, "L'amico Fritz" and "Iris" have remained in the repertoire in Europe (especially Italy) since their premieres. Mascagni said that at one point, "Iris" was performed in Italy more often than "Cavalleria" (cf.
Sylvie Brunet title-role of "Carmen" at the Zürich Opera House, the role of Suzuki in "Madame Butterfly" at the Paris Opera directed by Bob Wilson, Madame de Croissy in "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Paris Opera and the Zürich Opera, Santuzza in "Cavalleria Rusticana" at the Séville Opera, Marguerite in "La Damnation de Faust" in Zürich and eventually the title role in Meyerbeer's "l'Africaine" at the Opéra national du Rhin. Noticed by Sergio Segalini, she is invited to sing Azucena in Verdi's "Il trovatore" at the Martina Franca Festival. On this occasion, an Italian critic wrote of her: "Verdi has finally found