Cavalleria rusticana Germany in 1909. As in live performances of the opera, recordings of the work have often been paired with Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci". In addition to the original Italian, recordings of the work in the English, French, German, and Hungarian languages have been released. Mascagni himself conducted the opera in two recordings, the better-known of which is the 1940 EMI recording made to mark the 50th anniversary of the opera's premiere. The performance by the La Scala orchestra and chorus with Lina Bruna Rasa as Santuzza and Beniamino Gigli as Turiddu also has a spoken introduction by Mascagni. Originally released as
Cavalleria rusticana (1982 film) shown on Italian television, it was later replayed on U.S. television to enthusiastic reactions. Cavalleria rusticana (1982 film) Initially, the Italian television network RAI expressed interest in recording the live opening night double-bill of Franco Zeffirelli's stage productions of "Cavalleria rusticana" and "Pagliacci" at the Teatro alla Scala. However, the director wanted to film the operas like movies instead of live stage productions. Over the course of two days, he filmed both operas on the stage of La Scala without an audience and in segments of ten minutes or less. He later added pick-up shots at a film studio in