A scene from I Pagliacci

A scene from Cavalleria Rusticana  Photos: Courtesy of the National Centre for the Performing Arts

From Wednesday to Sunday, opera fans in Beijing were able to enjoy the Italian post-romantic realist operas Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Performed by two groups of performers, a mixed cast consisting of international and Chinese players performing on the 1st, 3rd and 5th day, and a Chinese cast for the 2nd and 4th days, I managed to catch a performance by the mixed cast; a performance that was perfect for someone with little opera experience like myself.

The opera world of the late 19th century was dominated by Wagner and Verdi, which led it to feature either abstract myths full of metaphor or stories centered on the upper class and the nobility. However, soon after, verismo opera, which told stories about the lives of common folk, appeared.

It's a long standing convention for the two verismo operas, Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci to be put together as a single performance. Both are master works presenting the Italian verismo style, feature stories that take place in average villages in Southern Italy and have endings that deeply impact audiences.

While both operas feature stories of betrayed marriages that lead to bloody ends, Cavalleria Rusticana focuses on the jealousy and desperation of a woman who is seduced and then betrayed by her lover, while I Pagliacci presents an actor who can't contain his anger over his wife's betrayal during a public performance. There are obvious differences here: When Santuzza finds out her lover Turiddu has secretly maintained a relationship with his ex-lover Lola, she cries to his mother for help and tries her best to get him back; while in I Pagliacci, when the actor Canio finds his wife Nedda has a secret lover, he kills her and her lover.

Cavalleria Rusticana is famous for its beautiful music, which is sometimes criticized by some critics who say it is "too sweet." Luckily, Lithuanian operatic soprano and mezzosoprano Violeta Urmana did the music justice in her role as Santuzza, the main female lead who spends the entire 70-minute performance on stage. The biggest surprise that night, however, came from singer Jorge de Leon, who perfectly presented his final aria and duet in the role of Turiddu.

Probably the most well-known piece of music from Cavalleria Rusticana is the "Intermezzo," which was used in such movies as Raging Bull and The Godfather III. The melody is so sweet and sentimental that it perfectly represents Santuzza's broken heart. Urmana as Santuzza kneels in sunlight, her back toward the audience, and slowly lies face down as she makes a desperate prayer for the return of her lover Turiddu.

I Pagliacci is known for its play within a play in which the four main characters take on other roles to act out the drama between them.

During the opera, the music style makes rapid shifts to key in the audience whether the characters are acting in their roles or not. As such the tempo of the music is always very tense, and contains quite a bit of contrasting elements.

One major moment comes after the male lead, Canio, discovers that his wife Nedda has been having an affair. As the four characters begin to change into their roles for the play within a play, applying their make-up to cover up their real expressions with fake ones, the music takes a sad turn as Canio sings "Vesti la guibba" (put on the costume) which captures his anger and sadness as he is forced to transform from the wronged husband to the foolish clown he plays in the play.