CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA
BY GIOVANNI VERGA
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Giovanni Verga was born at Catania, Sicily, in 1840. He was at first a romanticist, carrying on the traditions of Manzoni. Between 1874 and 1880, he produced two masterpieces, dealing with the life of the Sicilian peasant, in which he found his true bent, abandoning his earlier romanticism. With his fellow townsman, Capuana, he now stands at the head of the Italian “veristi,” or naturalists, often compared with Zola. His style is singularly vigorous and sincere, especially in describing the customs and analyzing the souls of the Sicilian peasants. But his plots are often confusing and long drawn out; he has attempted drama, but with little success. Yet, strangely enough, his short story, “Cavalleria Rusticana,” which he afterward developed into a novel, has been made into one of the most popular, dramatic, concentrated one-act operas of the world—the “Cavalleria Rusticana” of the composer Mascagni.
Giovanni Verga was born at Catania, Sicily, in 1840. He was at first a romanticist, carrying on the traditions of Manzoni. Between 1874 and 1880, he produced two masterpieces, dealing with the life of the Sicilian peasant, in which he found his true bent, abandoning his earlier romanticism. With his fellow townsman, Capuana, he now stands at the head of the Italian “veristi,” or naturalists, often compared with Zola. His style is singularly vigorous and sincere, especially in describing the customs and analyzing the souls of the Sicilian peasants. But his plots are often confusing and long drawn out; he has attempted drama, but with little success. Yet, strangely enough, his short story, “Cavalleria Rusticana,” which he afterward developed into a novel, has been made into one of the most popular, dramatic, concentrated one-act operas of the world—the “Cavalleria Rusticana” of the composer Mascagni.
ideco1-p346