REALISM AND MELODRAMA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 506, 4 March 1949, Page 15

REALISM AND MELODRAMA

FTER the passing of Verdi and Pénchielli, Pietro Mascagni shared with Leoncavallo a period of leadership in Italian opera, and their works Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci have since been coupled together as the leading products of the Italian "verismo" or realist school. Next week Auckland listeners will be able to hear these operas, together with Tosca, broadcast ‘direct from the theatre where they will be performed by members of the International Opera Company. In the one-act Cavalleria Rusticana, Lola marries a teamster named Alfio, so that when her soldier lover Turiddu comes home he turns for consolation to Santuzza. But Lola still attracts him, and the jealous Alfio challenges him to a duel, to which he goes with foreboding in his heart, and is killed. Pagliacci, which is in two acts, tells the story of Canio, the leader of a band of wandering players, and his wife Nedda. Nedda tepulses the approaches of the clown Tonio in favour of Silvio. The clown tells Canio they will run away after the

performance, but the play must go on. Its events are identical with those which have just occurred in real life, and the deceived husband, Pagliacci (played by Canio), surprises the lovers. Columbine (Nedda) refuses to tell the name of her lover, and Canio is so overcome with emotion that he stabs her. Silvio jumps from the audience on to the stage and Canio stabs him too. He then bows to the horror-stricken. audience as the curtain falls, saying, "The comedy is finished." Puccini’s Tosca is a sinister melodrama about the lovers Mario Cavaradossi, a painter, and Floria Tosca, a singer. The villainous police chief Scarpia also desires Tosca, and he imprisons and tortures Mario in her presence. To obtain a safe-conduct for herself and Mario she agrees to become Scarpia’s lover and then stabs him. But the dead Scarpia has still foiled her, for the mock execution of Mario which is arranged for the next morning as part of the escape plan turns out to be a real one, and as the soldiers approach to seize Tosca for the murder of Scarpia, she throws herself over the parapet. Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci will be broadcast from 1YD at 8.0 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, and Tosca from 1YA at 8.0 p.m. on Thursday, March 10. Both performances will be conducted by Manno Wolff-Ferrari.