Word: cavalleria
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When a Sicilian wants to duel, he neither presents his card nor flips his glove in his enemy's face. Instead, he bites his opponent's ear. Enacting the role of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana at Manhattan's Hippodrome last week, Tenor Sidney Raynor's bite went wild. He missed Baritone Rocco Pandiscio's ear, took a painful nip out of the Pandiscio cheek. Peace was made over the bandaging backstage. Later in the evening Baritone Pandiscio went onstage with his round jowl swathed. He played his next role heartily, the doleful clown in Pagliacci...
...Cavalleria Rusticana" Mascagni...
Thirteen years ago when Spada first set out to make a name for himself with a double-barreled shotgun and a pocketful of shells, he was a plump, handsome young man, looking for all the world like a road company tenor in Cavalleria Rusticana. His reputation began to grow when he shot two gendarmes in the back, killing one. He considered the highway between Ajaccio and Sopigna his personal property, collected tribute from all travelers for years. He avenged himself on a young man who ran away with his mistress by murdering the boy's uncle and a cousin...
...composer of Cavalleria Rusticana was conducting the premiere of Nero, his 18th opera. The occasion brought forth Italy wide acclaim because, besides having written one brief masterpiece, Pietro Mascagni has been a shrewd and ardent Fascist. Government authorities boosted the new opera long before it was performed, announced that Mascagni had captured ''the true spirit of Imperial Rome.'' Mascagni claimed that he had been mulling over the Nero theme for 40 years, that his enthusiasm had lately been rekindled by ''Fascist exaltation...
Mascagni's one flash came when he was 26. A prize was offered for a one-act opera and the impoverished teacher, tired of a macaroni diet, worked at white heat for eight days and nights until he had completed Cavalleria Rusticana. On that lusty, full-blooded music he has lived ever since. He conducted it in the U. S. 32 years ago. The visit was notorious. Though his contract called for $4,000 per week, he had constant trouble with his creditors. He ranted at Manhattan's noise, Manhattan's food. He had his biggest tantrum...