# What is verismo?



## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

Or more eggheadedly... "What is verismo, and are there still verismo operas being written?"

It seems to me that the #1 thing that sets verismo operas apart from their non-verismo predecessors, is that the characters (heroes and villains alike) operate romantically in a world where they don't make the rules - all of them, even the antagonists, are flailing around doing their heroic or antagonistic things in that context, struggling beneath unseen forces.

I thought of this other day when it occurred to me that - up until the very end - you could almost make an argument that Don Carlo is "verismic." (sorry I don't know what the Italian would be for that concept) Although they are not peasants or poor, the characters operate in a world where nobody, not even the King, really has ultimate control of anything - although the Grand Inquisitor is certainly around and in control (or, so he THINKS! haha). Obviously, at the end, and via supernatural means, authority is revealed. Still, I think that's probably why I've always thought this opera to be unusual, fascinating and a cut above.

In the other direction... can you really call more modern operas "verismo" if they have the grinding gears of Society playing the characters like puppets, yet the characters have no truly romantic impulses?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I think of verismo mostly as stories about "the bourgeoisie". Operas by Puccini, Leoncavallo, and Mascagni come to mind.
If you can make a case for _Don Carlo_ (one of my top 3 favorites), I guess I could even make a case for _Andrea Chenier_


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Not to be crude about it (an expression which always means "to be crude about it"), verismo opera is about being lower-class and lacking in impulse-control (not that operatic characters ever had much of that).

To put that in a more high-class way, _verismo_ was the literary movement in Italy corresponding to the international literary movement "naturalism," in which novelists attempted to portray subjects which had previously been considered too common for literary presentation. In other words, it was about the trials and tribulations and skeletons in the closets - or just the humdrum routines and rituals - of the folks next door, rather than the elaborately plotted adventures of idealized people in high places or exotic locales. Opera influenced by this movement "focused not on gods, mythological figures, or kings and queens, but on the average contemporary man and woman and their problems, generally of a sexual, romantic, or violent nature" (Wiki).

_Cavalleria Rusticana_ is generally considered the first verismo opera, and the term is commonly used to include most of the works of Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Giordano, Alfano, Cilea, Catalani, Zandonai, D'Albert, Gustave Charpentier, and others in the post-Verdi generation. Not all of their works adhere to the "lives of the lower classes" formula, but the typical musical style, in which formal arias are mostly replaced by continuously developing dramatic music with a strong orchestral dimension and a lack of florid vocalism (showing the influence of Wagner), reinforces a sense of realism.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Not to be crude about it (an expression which always means "to be crude about it"), verismo opera is about being lower-class and lacking in impulse-control (not that operatic characters ever had much of that).
> 
> To put that in a more high-class way, verismo was the literary movement in Italy corresponding to the international literary movement "naturalism," in which novelists attempted to portray subjects which had previously been considered too common for literary presentation. In other words, it was about the trials and tribulations and skeletons in the closets - or just the humdrum routines and rituals - of the folks next door, rather than the elaborately plotted adventures of idealized people in high places or exotic locales.


Given those standards it would seem that _Wozzeck, Lulu & Peter Grimes_ could qualify.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> Given those standards it would seem that _Wozzeck, Lulu & Peter Grimes_ could qualify.


I think they do. The term is sometimes more broadly applied, sometimes more restrictively, but those three operas certainly conform to its literary usage.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> Not to be crude about it (an expression which always means "to be crude about it"), verismo opera is about being lower-class and lacking in impulse-control (not that operatic characters ever had much of that).
> 
> To put that in a more high-class way, _verismo_ was the literary movement in Italy corresponding to the international literary movement "naturalism," in which novelists attempted to portray subjects which had previously been considered too common for literary presentation. In other words, it was about the trials and tribulations and skeletons in the closets - or just the humdrum routines and rituals - of the folks next door, rather than the elaborately plotted adventures of idealized people in high places or exotic locales. Opera influenced by this movement "focused not on gods, mythological figures, or kings and queens, but on the average contemporary man and woman and their problems, generally of a sexual, romantic, or violent nature" (Wiki).
> 
> _Cavalleria Rusticana_ is generally considered the first verismo opera, and the term is commonly used to include most of the works of Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Giordano, Alfano, Cilea, Catalani, Zandonai, D'Albert, Gustave Charpentier, and others in the post-Verdi generation. Not all of their works adhere to the "lives of the lower classes" formula, but the typical musical style, in which formal arias are mostly replaced by continuously developing dramatic music with a strong orchestral dimension and a lack of florid vocalism (showing the influence of Wagner), reinforces a sense of realism.


:tiphat:

Thanks for that explanation! I just thought it was just 'realistic' opera about people doing ordinary things, (irrespective of their background) and not about fantasy gods and stuff.

Love this place, I learn sumfink every day.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Yes, if we restrict ourselves to opera, the word "verismo" (some people prefer a different name, "giovane scuola", that is the term most used in Italy itself, while "verismo" is more related to Literature) refers to a musical style, inspired, though not always restricted to, by naturalism, as described by Wooduck above.

Though we can extend the definition to encompass non-Italian opera, and there are indeed some closely related pieces to Italian "verismo" in France, or Germany, personally I prefer to restrict myself, when discussing about "verismo" to mostly Italian composers, and Italian operas between roughly 1890 and the 1930s. In this sense, there are of course no "verismo" operas being written today.

Some examples of composers and operas that we can, broadly, consider "verismo":

*Alfano*:
Cyrano de Bergerac
Il dottor Antonio
Risurrezione
Sakùntala

*Catalani*:
La Falce
La Wally 
Loreley

*Cilea*:
Gloria
L'Arlesiana
Tilda

*Floridia*: 
Maruzza

*Franchetti*:
Cristoforo Colombo
Germania

*Frontini*:
Malìa

*Gastaldon* :
Mala Pasqua!

*Giordano*:
Andrea Chénier
Il Re
La cena delle beffe
Mala Vita
Marcella
Mese Mariano
Siberia

*Gomes*:
Fosca

*Leoncavallo*:
La Bohème
Pagliacci
Chatterton
Edipo, Re
I Medici
Mameli
Zazà
Zingari

*Leoni*:
L'oracolo

*Mascagni*:
Cavalleria Rusticana
Amica
Guglielmo Ratcliff
Il piccolo Marat
I Rantzau
Iris
Isabeau
L'amico Fritz
Le maschere
Lodoletta
Nerone
Pinotta
Silvano
Zanetto

*Mascheroni*:
Lorenza

*Monleone*:
Cavalleria Rusticana

*Montemezzi*:
Giovanni Gallurese
L'amore dei tre re
La Nave
L'Incantesimo

*Samaras*:
La Biondinetta
Flora Mirabilis
La Martire

*Smareglia*:
Abisso
Cornill Schut
La Falena
Nozze Istriane
Oceana

*Wolf-Ferrari*:
I Gioielli della Madonna

*Zandonai*:
Conchita
Giulietta e Romeo
I Cavalieri di Ekebù
Il Bacio
Il grillo del focolare
La via della finestra

Of course, also some works by Puccini are sometimes included in the lot.

I'm a big fan of "verismo".


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

schigolch said:


> Of course, also some works by Puccini are sometimes included in the lot.
> 
> I'm a big fan of "verismo".


I am curious about Puccini in this case! Obviously Boheme, but also maybe Tosca and Butterfly (and Tabarro and Angelica)? WRT Wozzeck and Lulu (where I have a bit of an obsession) it would seem a bit like the former is a straight forward treatment of the theme of being out of control in one's life while the latter is a complex treatment of same. Grimes and Budd respectively the same


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Puccini is of course a composer included in the Giovane Scuola. And many of his works can be called "verismo". However, on one side he is one of the stalwarts of the operatic genre, and on the other, "verismo" has been often dismissed by many critics as being too crude, lacking in refinement and musically dull, and Puccini was somehow separated from the rest of the lot (though he also received his fair share of criticism, at least few critics were prepared to go to the same extents than with Mascagni, Giordano, Catalani or Leoncavallo).

I have a different opinion. Arias, and performances, like this one below, belonging to Catalani's "Loreley", are among my favorites:


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

That's a great list, schigolch. I think I'm a fan of verismo too. It seems to have a major overlap with late 19th c. Italian composers forever in the shadow of Verdi and Puccini.

Surely there are many that deserve to be seen and heard more. Thankfully some of them are getting performed.

A few notes regarding live performances in Europe.
I saw *I Gioielli della Madonna* last year in Bratislava and thought it was rather good. I might go to Freiburg in June to see it again. I wish Covent Garden would consider it.
La Scala are putting on Giordano's *La Cena Delle Beffe* in April/May.
Catania (Sicily) are staging Alfano's *Sakúntala* in November.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Actually, I'm quite fond of "I Gioielli della Madonna" (The Jewels of the Madonna). The opera was premiered in Berlin, in 1911, in a German language version by the title of "Der Schmuck der Madonna". The italian premiere was however as late as 1953, with Wolf-Ferrari already dead.

Nevertheless, in the original Italian version (Wolf-Ferrari was inspired by a real story, that happens towards the end of the 19th century, at Naples), the opera was hailed as a big success in the US, first in Chicago, sung by great stars like Rosa Raisa and Claudia Muzio, and then also in New York, sung by Maria Jeritza.










The plot is the essence of "verismo", indeed.

A beautiful afternoon at Naples, with the town's holding its annual festival dedicated to 'la Madonna'. Maliella (soprano) leave in a rush the home of her stepmother, Carmela (mezzo), to watch the procession. His stepbrother, Gennaro (tenor), desperately in love with the young Maliella, is working in his forge. Maliella was adopted by Carmela, after a promise to the Madonna when Gennaro was very ill, and about to die.

Maliella is being wooed by a young 'camorrista', Rafaele (baritone) that declares himself ready to steal the jewels from the cloak of the Madonna, just to humor the girl. Gennaro, angrily, advises Maliella to stay apart from the criminal guy.

Easy to predict, Maliella ignores Gennaro, and when Rafale sings a serenade beside her window, she agrees to meet him. The frenzied Gennaro enters the church, and steals the jewels from the cloak of the Madonna. He presents this trophy in the darkness to her stepsister, that mistook him from Rafaele, and consent to make love.

In the meanwhile, Rafaele explains to his fellow 'camorristi' that he doesn't love Maliella, and he is only interested in taking her virginity. When the girl arrives, crying and explaining how she bedded Gennaro by mistake, Rafale despises her. Maliella reveals the jewels of the Madonna and the "camorristi", stunned by the sacrilege, just go away. Maliella, in desperation, commits suicide by drowning in the sea, and Gennaro, asking for the Madonna's forgiveness, stabs himself in the heart.

It's a gruesome plot, but the music is quite good. 

The opera is complete in youtube:


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

The title of Giordano's 'Mala Vita' has always amused me. It's like calling an opera 'Lowlife Criminal Scum' then wondering why real life residents of the place where it's set take offence.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, in the famous competition that was won by Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana", Giordano was also presenting a piece, "Marina". It was not very successful, but Edoardo Sonzogno encouraged Giordano to write an opera in the style of "Cavalleria", and the young composer followed the advice. The result was "Mala vita".

It was premiered at Rome, in 1892, with two stars singing like Roberto Stagno and Gemma Bellincioni. The opera was also staged in several Italian cities, in Vienna, in Germany... with little success. It was also offered in Milan, under a new title: "Il voto", but to no avail.

It's a short opera, set also at Naples. Vito Amante (tenor) is the lover of a married woman, Amalia (mezzo). He is a sick man, suffering from tuberculosis, and he promises to God that he will marry and reform the first ***** he will meet in the street, in exchange from a cure. As you can imagine, a *****, Cristina (soprano) is just passing by at that precise moment, and Vito tries to woo her. However, Amalia is not precisely happy and after some bickering Vito returns to her, and Cristina returns to the brothel.

There is a recording available, that we can also watch in youtube:


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Personally I think Verismo or Giovane Scuola are just terms that try to put a categorization of the italian operatic movement from 1890 to about 1905 (with further epigones in latter years).
While some operas or composers may share similar traits, the terms serve the purpose to encompass a wide range of works in a specific period for (commercial and historic) convenience.
This period was distinguished for to be the "next step" after Verdi's reign, the hard rivalry between two editors (Ricordi and Sonzogno) which drove the market and Cavalleria Rusticana's huge success which gave new enthusiasm (and was imitated many times) to the italian Opera industry.
While you can definitely try to do a categorization through the music/singing style or the subjects as Woodduck wrote, it's a good frame of mind not to be too strict otherwise contradictions will soon arise (starting from Mascagni own body of works).

On the other hand Verismo can be also view as a synonym with Cavelleria Rusticana's imitations regardless on where on when said composition has been done (for example Ferrero's Salvatore Giuliano).



schigolch said:


> *Alfano*:


In musicology studies Alfano is often grouped with La generazione dell'Ottanta (and not just for his date of birth).
Though , what I said above for Verismo/Giovane Scuola, is also applicable to La generazione dell'Ottanta (and any other generalization).


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I prefer to consider Alfano as one of the last examples of the verista school. 

Well, it's not that important, anyway. What it's more interesting is listening, and discussing, about the composers and the operas they wrote.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Amazing how few of the operas listed by schigolch are now in the repertoire. A number of obscure ones have been recorded, but I wonder what treasures are still buried there?


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> Amazing how few of the operas listed by schigolch are now in the repertoire. A number of obscure ones have been recorded, but I wonder what treasures are still buried there?


Indeed. I wish opera houses would stage some of these rarities interspersed with the war horses. I'd rather see a new opera than a naked Mickey Mouse Un ballo in maschera set in the ruins of WTC, any day. But that's for another thread...


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

sospiro said:


> Indeed. I wish opera houses would stage some of these rarities interspersed with the war horses. I'd rather see a new opera than a naked Mickey Mouse Un ballo in maschera set in the ruins of WTC, any day. But that's for another thread...


I think I cavalieri di Ekebu that Schigolch mentioned in his list is a much better opera than Un ballo in maschera.
Mascagni did by the way not like I Cavalieri di Ekebu but what did he know about the dark forests of Värmland:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Zandonai premiered "I Cavalieri di Ekebù" back in 1925, at La Scala, with Toscanini conducting. It's based on the legend of Gösta Berling, by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf. Just around the same dates, a little bit before than the opera, the famous movie on the same subject by Mauritz Stiller, starring Greta Garbo, was also premiered.

In a very cold Sweden, Gösta Berling (tenor) is a priest, but it's expelled from the Church, due to his misbehaving. He is in love with a girl, Anna (soprano) that is ambivalent about G¨¨osta's intentions. Then, the Lady of the Manor of Ekebù (mezzo) offers Gösta to join her Cavalieri (knights), a group of irregulars devoted to do the good. Gösta recovers, and he is engaged to Anna. One of the knights, Sintram (bass) accuses the Lady of being possessed by the Devil, but Gösta defends her, and when the Lady expires, she names Gösta and Anna to be her successors.

The opera was successful for a few years, but then it slowly disappeared from the repertoire. However, it's a nice piece, with a great vocal writing.

We can watch it complete in youtube:






About the problem of, at least some, these operas coming back to the repertoire, I do think we need a kind of "verismo" renaissance. In fact, I have been trying to promote a small cycle of Mascagni's operas to be staged during a few consecutive, or almost consecutive, seasons, but to no avail for the time being.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Sloe said:


> Mascagni did by the way not like I Cavalieri di Ekebu but what did he know about the dark forests of Värmland:


Must post every time "Värmland" is cited:






What Mascagni said (actually wrote) after hearing I cavalieri di Ekebu was: 
"Zandonai è un musicista di prim'ordine ma la sua immaginazione è limitata , e il suo temperamento non riesce mai a catturare il sentimento della passione".
Roughly translated to:
"Zandonai is a first rank musician but his imagination is limited, and his temperament can never achieve the sentiment of passion".


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

schigolch said:


> Zandonai premiered "I Cavalieri di Ekebù" back in 1925, at La Scala, with Toscanini conducting. It's based on the legend of Gösta Berling, by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf. Just around the same dates, a little bit before than the opera, the famous movie on the same subject by Mauritz Stiller, starring Greta Garbo, was also premiered.
> 
> In a very cold Sweden, Gösta Berling (tenor) is a priest, but it's expelled from the Church, due to his misbehaving. He is in love with a girl, Anna (soprano) that is ambivalent about G¨¨osta's intentions. Then, the Lady of the Manor of Ekebù (mezzo) offers Gösta to join her Cavalieri (knights), a group of irregulars devoted to do the good. Gösta recovers, and he is engaged to Anna. One of the knights, Sintram (bass) accuses the Lady of being possessed by the Devil, but Gösta defends her, and when the Lady expires, she names Gösta and Anna to be her successors.
> 
> ...


It is possible to have the subtitles in the video translated through automatic translation. Click the subtitle remark then the wheel then subtitles and then translate and pick language to translate into. It is not an optimal translation but enough to follow the plot.
The opera premièred in Sweden in 1928 because the opera was considered to have to much exoticism Selma Lagerlöf herself made changes in the libretto. The opera is by the way not set in the 1920-ies but roughly 100 years earlier.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

schigolch said:


> Zandonai premiered "I Cavalieri di Ekebù" back in 1925, at La Scala, with Toscanini conducting. It's based on the legend of Gösta Berling, by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf. Just around the same dates, a little bit before than the opera, the famous movie on the same subject by Mauritz Stiller, starring Greta Garbo, was also premiered.
> 
> In a very cold Sweden, Gösta Berling (tenor) is a priest, but it's expelled from the Church, due to his misbehaving. He is in love with a girl, Anna (soprano) that is ambivalent about G¨¨osta's intentions. Then, the Lady of the Manor of Ekebù (mezzo) offers Gösta to join her Cavalieri (knights), a group of irregulars devoted to do the good. Gösta recovers, and he is engaged to Anna. One of the knights, Sintram (bass) accuses the Lady of being possessed by the Devil, but Gösta defends her, and when the Lady expires, she names Gösta and Anna to be her successors.
> 
> ...


This is tremendously interesting. I'd love to hear more operas in the verismo genre. The only thing that worries me is that having singers do more of this kind of thing would only reinforce the direction of modern vocal technique, in which forced, wobbly bellowing seems to be accepted as the normal, "operatic" sound. There's plenty of that in this video, and Zandonai's beautiful writing is often obscured. I've found a 1957 recording, also on YouTube, featuring such superb singers as Mirto Picchi (I'd forgotten how good he was; at times he sounds like a Corelli with refinement and style), Fedora Barbieri, and Antonio Zaccaria, which represents the music much better.






I suspect that the survival of verismo operas, at least as much as that of bel canto operas and maybe more so, will depend very much on the existence of singers who can do them justice.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Indeed, some "verismo" operas are quite demanding on the singers. For instance, one of my favorites, Mascagni's "Guglielmo Ratcliff" has a tenor part that is almost impossible to sing. 

However, I do prefer to stage these operas today, even if there is a dearth of singers that can made them full justice.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> Amazing how few of the operas listed by schigolch are now in the repertoire. A number of obscure ones have been recorded, but I wonder what treasures are still buried there?


From 1900 to 1915 there were staged at least 250 new operas in Italy, with peaks of more than 30 first executions in 1904, 1905, 1908 (Source: Le opere liriche del '900 a cura del Centro Lirico Italiano, published in 1937)

Of course as any other century there were heaps of new operas composed, the difference is that with the invention of instruments to record sounds many 20th century italian Operas, now obscure, have at least a recording (mainly thanks to EIAR/RAI work between 1930 and 1980).


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