-
![]()
-
![]()
Im opera, verismo (meaning sealnsfma?”ftrom Itallan vero, meaning “true”) was a pes人Romantic
operatlc tradition associated with Italian cermposers Such as Pietro Mascagnl, 有uggero Leoncavallo,
Umberto Giordano and Giacomo Puccini.
Verlsmo as an operatic genre had its origins in an Italian ]iterary movement also called “verismo,?
The Italian literary movement of verismo was related to the international ]lterary imovyement Of
Naturalism as practiced by Emile Zola. Like naturallsm,。負e verlsmo literary movyement seught to
portray 也e world With greater reallsm. They tended to care more about the fraglc Jlives 0 the poor
計
Influenced by Such a literary movement, Ttallan verlsmo opera 1ibreftlsts focus 了eir concern on fie
lives of the poor, not geherally Seen as asubjeet for Romantic operas. Verga?s short story, adopted by
Glovanni Tareioni-Tozzetti and Guido MenaSscl, developed Into the libretto of 了e opera Cdug7/erzg
7zsZzcgz7zg (Rusfic Chivalry”). Mascagni composed the music for It It marked fhe arrlval of verismo
operas.
Jn terms of subject matter, verismo Operas focused on the average contemporary people and their
problems, especially of violent matters. That is, fthese opera cotnposers and opera librettists(barely)
adopted 了he Stories of gods > mythologlcal figures, or Kings or queens. These librettists often trled to
Teplace sejlledquly by dialogue,to focus on the contradiction and arguments between two ) people In dailly
hlfe. Some of 也em even adopted the dialects of fal areas in their opera libretto, such as Rugglero
Teoncavallo s //zg/72ccz, to expresS exactly what happened to those people in rural areas. Thus, these
cormposers abandoned 也e feecltafive and set-plece structure”of earlier Italian opera to try to achieve
也e Htegratiom Of 也ec opera s umderlyjng drama with 1ts music.“While verismo operas may contain
arias 了at can be Sung as stand-alone pleces, 也ey are generally written to arise naturally from their
dramatic surroundings, and 了elr structure 1s varlable, being based on text that usually does not follow
aregular Strophic format, 也e same melody happening recurrently in different.stanzas of the libretto.
That is, music has to go In accordaaee wilth 了he development of the plots of libretto in these operas.
Thus, 了erir music goes non-stop to push thelr plots Into climax. Also, foaring, hurling and laughing
ee 主
wildjy go through fhe whole opera. Everything In tese operas fit into everyday life, eSpeclally of the
umderprivileged:people.
. What ls thls pasSage malnly about?
box Naturalism Influences verlsmo.
