Leoncavallo was a more thorough craftsman and composer than Mascagni was and you can see that and hear it in these two works. Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, therefore, is more through-composed and more highly developed than Cavalleria. Despite the fact that they’ve been paired together for 75 years, and that they’re both by Italian composers from the same era, they are significantly different in their sheer musicalapproach.
When you look at Cavalleria rusticana analytically, it is nothing more than a series of set-pieces or ‘numbers’ strung together to tell a story. Since it all takes place during a Sicilian Easter celebration within one day’s time in a rustic little village, there are numerous opportunities for musical expression that come naturally from environment within which the opera is set. So first there is a Prelude played by the orchestra which is soon interrupted by a romanza sung by Turiddu offstage, a serenade in Neopolitan style to his beloved Lola. The prelude continues, ends, and then we are immediately thrust into a village scene introduced by church bells accompanying the villagers coming out of the church on Easter morning. Then there’s a short duet between Santuzza and Mamma Lucia follows, Santuzza asking Lucia where her son Turiddu is, then an entrance song for Alfio, Lola’s husband, (folk-like in style), then more set pieces…a ‘Regina Coeli, a sacred hymn stemming from inside the church, and then the people’s Easter prayer and procession. One standard operatic vignette or ‘number’ is offered after another until we have the great confrontation between Turiddu and Santuzza, a wonderful duet that is truly the heart of the opera. There is little or no sharing of melodic ideas from one vignette to another and no real development of themes, simply their reappearance. In a way, Mascagni’s approach to the music is simple and very direct, much like the life of these Sicilian villagers.
Leoncavallo approaches his opera in a different way. It’s much more influenced by the late operas of Verdi, especially Otello and Falstaff, and Wagner, an early influence, in which the composer approaches opera not so much in terms of individual ‘numbers’ but as an ever dynamic, ever developing whole. Other than Tonio’s prologue, Nedda’s aria (“Stridono lassù”) and Canio’s lament (“Vesti la giubba”) there are no numbers or set pieces in this opera. It moves dynamically from beginning to end with melodic ideas constantly changing, reappearing and developing. This kind of technique, where a composer takes a melody and continually develops it to become a part of the fabric of the whole piece, is not something that came naturally to Mascagni and has little part to play in Cavalleria rusticana. It should not surprise anyone that the approach of these two composers is so essentially different and yet the two works are consistently paired together. That’s because the elements of verismo are not so much about the style of the music as they are about the style of the librettos, the stories of these operas… popular, full-blooded, passionate works about people living a hand-to-mouth existence at the lower levels of society.