Opera North

Cavalleria Rusticana

The craze for the short and sharp thrills of grittily intense verismo opera was launched by Mascagni’s wildly popular Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry), which shares both its shock value and its core themes of betrayal, jealousy and vengeance with Pagliacci, the opera it is most often paired with.

Set at Easter, Cavalleria rusticana tells the tale of Turiddù, a soldier, who has returned from the army to find his lover, Lola, has married another man. In consolation, he has seduced Santuzza, leaving her desperate, while still nurturing his obsessive desire for Lola.

Trial By Jury

The first true collaboration by the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan, Trial by Jury was an immediate success at its 1875 premiere, launching a series of 14 comic operas which was to include The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.

A courtroom farce which quickly heads into delightful absurdity, Trial by Jury established much of the formula for Gilbert and Sullivan’s hugely popular works.