(Amadeus). Opera's most enduring tragic double bill of verismo masterpieces, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci share many common features, most noticeably their direct language, plot simplicity, common-folk characters, and themes of adultery, betrayal, revenge, and murder. Written within two years of each other, and both set in villages in southern Italy, they feature dramatic confrontations, turbulent emotions, and gritty realism. Cavalleria rusticana takes place on Easter in a Sicilian village, where Turiddu, after returning from the army to find his beloved Lola married to the carter Alfio, found solace with the peasant girl Santuzza but ultimately betrayed her and ruined her reputation. When Turiddu goes back to Lola, Santuzza seeks revenge, with tragic results. In Pagliacci , a troupe of traveling commedia dell'arte players is torn apart when its leader, Canio, discovers that his wife, Nedda, has taken a lover. In the ensuing "play within a play," the actors struggle to go on with their performance as the line between theater and reality collapses, leading to an explosive climax.

(Amadeus). Opera's most enduring tragic double bill of verismo masterpieces, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci share many common features, most noticeably their direct language, plot simplicity, common-folk characters, and themes of adultery, betrayal, revenge, and murder. Written within two years of each other, and both set in villages in southern Italy, they feature dramatic confrontations, turbulent emotions, and gritty realism. Cavalleria rusticana takes place on Easter in a Sicilian village, where Turiddu, after returning from the army to find his beloved Lola married to the carter Alfio, found solace with the peasant girl Santuzza but ultimately betrayed her and ruined her reputation. When Turiddu goes back to Lola, Santuzza seeks revenge, with tragic results. In Pagliacci , a troupe of traveling commedia dell'arte players is torn apart when its leader, Canio, discovers that his wife, Nedda, has taken a lover. In the ensuing "play within a play," the actors struggle to go on with their performance as the line between theater and reality collapses, leading to an explosive climax.

The Black Dog Opera Library presents Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci. A marriage of music and the written word in the most complete and popularly priced package yet produced, each of these sets includes a complete opera on two Angel/EMI compact discs, accompanied by the complete libretto in its original language and English translation with annotated commentary. Full-color photographs illustrate the history of the operas, and an entertaining text discusses the musical heritage of the composers, the music and the performances.

A guide to recordings of operas.

Providing the most complete record possible of texts by Italian writers active after 1900, this annotated bibliography covers over 4,800 distinct editions of writings by some 1,700 Italian authors. Many entries are accompanied by useful notes that provide information on the authors, works, translators, and the reception of the translations. This book includes the works of Pirandello, Calvino, Eco, and more recently, Andrea Camilleri and Valerio Manfredi. Together with Robin Healey’s Italian Literature before 1900 in English Translation, also published by University of Toronto Press in 2011, this volume makes comprehensive information on translations from Italian accessible for schools, libraries, and those interested in comparative literature.