Last Day for Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ and ‘Pagliacci’ at Benedum (Sun., 11/17/24)

CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / PAGLIACCI (operas) by Pietro Mascagni (with libretto by  Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci) and Ruggero Leoncavalla, music and libretto for Pagliacci. Pittsburgh Opera. Through November 17.

Performed in tandem––opera aficionados pair them as “Cav/Pag”—these two short operas, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, written about the same time, are performed often on identical sets and, just as often, with the same cast. Furthermore, they both represent a genre of opera called verismo suggesting that, like realism, they promote a more natural dramatization of the human condition. If common townsfolk can cheat and avenge jealousy in the same way that courtesans and kings can, then this is meant to be very real. Of course, in Cavalleria Rusticana, we are indeed presented with common townsfolk whose tangled love interests incite one to bite the ear of another, resulting in a duel to death. And, in Pagliacci, a troupe of commedia del’arte clowns come to realize that love betrayed is sufficient cause for murder justified, which, if true, is sadly laughable. In any case, opera fans have loved this “double feature” since 1893. 

You will, too. Pittsburgh Opera offers both the music that inspired the score for Scorcese’s The Godfather III, as well as the arrieta by which Enrico Caruso proved he was no clown. 2 p.m. Pre-opera talk at1 p.m. At Benedum Center, 237 7th St, Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

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