''I Rantzau'' (''The Rantzau Family'') is an opera in four acts by

Pietro Mascagni Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece ''Cavalleria rusticana'' caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the ' ...

(1892), based on a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

Guido Menasci Guido Menasci (24 March 1867 – 27 December 1925) was an Italian opera librettist. His best-known work is ''Cavalleria rusticana'' written with Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti. He also provided the libretti for Mascagni's'' I Rantzau'', ''Zanetto' ...

and

Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti (17 March 186330 May 1934) was an Italian librettist. Biography He was best known for his friendship and collaboration with the composer Pietro Mascagni. Most of his libretti were written in collaboration with Guido ...

, based on the play ''Les Rantzau'' (1873) by French writers Erckmann and Chatrian, after their novel (1882) ''Les Deux Frères'' (''The Two Brothers''). It was first performed at the

Teatro della Pergola The Teatro della Pergola is an historic opera house in Florence, Italy. It is located in the centre of the city on the Via della Pergola, from which the theatre takes its name. It was built in 1656 under the patronage of Cardinal Gian Carlo de' Med ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on 10 November 1892.Michelle Girardi: ''Mascagni, Pietro''
''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', accessed 10 April 2007. The overture is popular and was recorded in Berlin with Mascagni conducting in 1927. The soprano solo in Act 1 is an excellent example of true

verismo In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an ...

aria, and has an emotional impact that parallels the composer's work in ''

Cavalleria rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play b ...

''. The soprano/tenor duet is impressive enough (and has been recorded in modern times by Plácido Domingo and Renato Scotto), but the opera is perhaps the least revived of Mascagni's "other" operas, with only one recording made of the full opera. ''Mascagni.org, recordings'', accessed April 3, 2009.

Roles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rantzau, I Italian-language operas Operas by Pietro Mascagni 1892 operas Operas Operas based on plays Operas based on novels