Pietro Mascagni, who single-handedly established the prototype of verismo opera with his 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana, was born on 7 December 1863. His father was a baker, and he was determined that Pietro should follow in his footsteps. Pietro’s precocious

Pietro Mascagni wrote fifteen operas, an operetta, several orchestral and vocal works, and also songs and piano music. However, he will always be remembered for his 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana. Considered the first verismo opera, Cavalleria Rusticana mirrored the Italian

Pietro Mascagni: Visione lirica In 1921, Italian composer Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), having finished his latest verismo opera, Il piccolo Marat, he shut himself away to fight the modernism that seemed to be taking over opera. He stopped writing almost entirely