Cavalleria rusticana libretto, sending it to Mascagni in fragments, sometimes only a few verses at a time on the back of a postcard. The opera was finally submitted on the last day that entries would be accepted. In all, 73 operas were submitted, and on 5 March 1890, the judges selected the final three: Niccola Spinelli's "Labilia", Vincenzo Ferroni's "Rudello", and Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana". There have been two other operas based on Verga's story. The first, "Mala Pasqua!" (Bad Easter!) by Stanislao Gastaldon, was entered in the same competition as Mascagni's. However, Gastaldon withdrew it when he received an opportunity to have
Brandon Jovanovich in Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Boston Lyric Opera; the title role in Verdi's "Don Carlos" with the Houston Grand Opera; Turiddu in "Cavalleria rusticana" at the Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Angers-Nantes Opéra, Palm Beach Opera and New York City Opera; Luigi in Puccini's "Il tabarro" with the San Francisco Opera and Angers-Nantes Opéra; Boris in Janáček's "Káťa Kabanová" at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Steva in Janáček's "Jenufa" at the Bayrische Staatsoper and Angers-Nantes Opéra; the title role in Britten's "Peter Grimes" with Teatro di San Carlo in Napoli; Pollione in Bellini's