Verismo

Verismo (Italian for 'realism') in opera was a post-Romantic tradition of the late 19th to early 20th centuries associated with Italian composers like Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini.

Verismo in opera had its origins in the Italian literary movement of the same name, which was in turn related to the international literary movement of naturalism practised by Émile Zola and others. Like naturalism, the verismo literary movement sought to portray the world with greater realism. In so doing, Italian verismo authors such as Giovanni Verga wrote about subject matter, such as the lives of the poor, that had not generally been seen as a fit subject for literature.