The one-act operas Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci contain some of the most iconic and enduring moments of the art form. Now being revived by the Lyric Opera of Chicago with top-notch musical and production values all around, this 1890s Italian double bill of adultery and murder (often abbreviated as Cav/Pag) is quintessential viewing for newcomers and longtime opera fans.
Both operas have many artistic treasures that have gone onto to have pop cultural lives in other mediums. On opening night during Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry), it was fun to spot the many film buffs in the audience who perked up as they recognized the contemplative Intermezzo. This orchestral interlude was featured in both Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part III.
And during Pagliacci (Clowns), other audiences of a certain age were thrilled or even chuckled when the crying and cuckolded Canio sang his famed aria “Vesti la giubba.” This musical moment is not only the hallmark of celebrated tenors like Enrico Caruso and Luciano Pavarotti, it has also been notoriously spoofed everywhere from The Simpsons to 1960s Rice Krispies commercials.
Cav/Pag are enduring landmarks of the late 19th century Italian artistic movement know as verisimo, which focused on realism and stories about common folk. Codes of honor are also important to a deadly degree for anyone who transgresses societal norms.
Inspired by a short story and play by Giovanni Verga, Cavalleria rusticana was adapted into an opera in 1890 by composer Pietro Mascagni and librettists Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci. Set in Sicily on what turns out to be a tragic Easter Sunday, Cavalleria rusticana focuses on the excommunicated and shunned Santuzza (mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina) who desperately tries to reunite with her ex-lover (and soon-to-be baby daddy) Turiddu (tenor SeokJong Baek).
But the ex-soldier Turiddu has unwisely started up an affair with Lola (mezzo-soprano Camille Robles). She’s the wife of the successful goods transporter Alfio (baritone Quinn Kelsey), who has been re-imagined as a mafia crime boss in this handsome 2002 Lyric production by the late director Elijah Moshinsky.
Matochkina impresses in her Lyric debut as Santuzza with not only her powerful voice, but her desperate character acting opposite the sturdy Mamma Lucia (Turiddu’s disbelieving mother) of contralto and Ryan Opera Center alumna Lauren Decker. Matochkina even soldiered on past an opening night scenic slip-up involving an Easter garland with a Virgin Mary portrait that could not be installed.
On a musical level, Baek wowed with his youthful tenor voice in his Lyric debut as Turiddu. Now if only his acting skills were on par with his costars.
Turiddu needs a love-’em-and-leave-’em attitude toward women, plus a devil-may-care drunken demeanor that flies in the face of danger. One wishes that revival director Peter McClintock could have worked more closely with Baek to match the acting swagger of baritone and Ryan Opera Center alum Kelsey as the menacing and revengeful Alfio.
Kelsey also shows off more vocal villainy and malevolence in composer and librettist Ruggero Leoncavallo’s 1892 tragedy Pagliacci. As both the Prologue singer and the jealous clown Tonio, Kelsey eggs on the drama after he is spurned by the adulterous leading lady Nedda (soprano Gabriella Reyes) who is carrying on an affair with the local youth Silvio (baritone Luke Sutliff). Tonio informs on Nedda to her husband, Canio (tenor Russell Thomas), who cannot contain his jealous rage.
In terms of vocal and acting chops, all the performers in Pagliacci are on par with each other with very engrossing results. They’re all buoyed up as part of the troubled traveling troupe with tenor Daniel Luis Espinal as the more level-headed Beppe, and by an amazing septet of silent background actors with very applause-worthy physical and circus skills (Miles Borchard, Eva Marguerite Duval, J.J. Gatesman, A Hermanson, Ryan Liddell, Eliana Payne and Austin Rambo).
Lyric music director Enrique Mazzola expertly conducted the Lyric Opera Orchestra in a gorgeously lush reading of both classic scores. Chorus director Michael Black also brought out beautiful and balanced work from the Lyric Opera Chorus amid the cramped scenic confines of designer Michael Yeargan’s village set for Cavalleria rusticana and the wide-open village outskirts of of Pagliacci.
Yeargan’s period costumes provided a great contrast from the traditional 19th century setting for Cavalleria rusticana, up to the unobtrusive 20th century update for Pagliacci. Duane Schuler also returned with his evocative lighting design for the initially languid morning energy of Cavalleria rusticana to the evening showtime energy of Pagliacci.
Though both Mascagni and Leoncavallo wrote other operas, it’s the respective pairing of their Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci that continue to shine together in the pantheon of truly great operas. Once again, the Lyric Opera of Chicago musically does Cav/Pag proud.
The Lyric Opera of Chicago double-bill revival of Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci continues through Nov. 23 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Sung in Italian with projected English translations. Tickets are $47-$385. Call 312-827-5600 or visit LyricOpera.org/cavpag.