Giovanni Verga
Writing
Biography
Giovanni Carmelo Verga (1840–1922) was an Italian realist (verista) writer, best known for his depictions of life in his native Sicily, especially the short story (and later play) Cavalleria rusticana and the novel often considered his masterpiece, I Malavoglia (The House by the Medlar Tree). Starting with historical and patriotic novels, Verga went on to write novels in which psychological observation was combined with romantic elements, as in Eva (1873), Tigre reale (1873; “Royal Tigress”), and Eros (1875). These sentimental works were later referred to by Verga as novels “of elegance and adultery.” Eventually he developed the powers that made him prominent among the European novelists of the late 19th century, and within a few years he produced his masterpieces: the short stories of Vita dei campi (1880; “Life in the Fields”) and Novelle rusticane (1883; Little Novels of Sicily), the great novels I malavoglia (1881) and Mastro-don Gesualdo (1889), and Cavalleria rusticana (1884), a play rewritten from a short story, which became immensely popular as an opera (1890) by Pietro Mascagni. His reputation was slow to develop, but modern critics have assessed him as one of the greatest of all Italian novelists. His influence was particularly marked on the post-World War II generation of Italian authors; a landmark film of the Neorealist cinema movement, Luchino Visconti’s Terra trema (1948; The Earth Trembles), was based on I malavoglia.
Known For
She was tall, dark and thin, with a proud and voluptuous bust. They called her "The she-wolf" because she seemed never to be satisfied. All the men were obsessed with her but one day the she-wolf fell madly in love with young Nanni.
La lupa
Catania, Sicilia 1854. A serious epidemic of cholera is hitting the region. Maria a 16 years old novice leaves her convent and returns her home to avoid contamination. Here she finds a difficult situation, in fact her stepmother and her half-sisters prevent Maria to live the normal life of a teenager. In their minds Maria is the promised "bride of God" and a regular life for her is inappropriate. Nino, her handsome neighbor, falls in love for Maria who isn't indifferent to him. But when Maria comes back to her convent the way to become nun is compelled. Now Maria can understand Sister Agata, and realizes she became mad cause a lost and impossible love like the one between Maria and Nino.
Sparrow
In rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy their own boat and operate independently.
La Terra Trema
In Pietro Mascagni's tragic opera, a soldier returns home from war to reclaim his former fiancée, only to find that she's married someone else in his absence, leading to jealousy, betrayal, and murder.
Fatal Desire
Sicily, 1865. Two peasants, Gramigna and his father are tricked by Baron Nardò and robbed of their field, which then the baron lets to Assunta, her daughter Gemma and her fiancé Ramarro. Determined to take revenge, Gramigna begins to hunt down Nardò's complicit mediators. Unbeknownst to Gramigna, Gemma, to escape her arranged marriage, goes after him. Love and violence will follow all till their desperate ends.
The Bandit
A woman in her thirties is a single mother of a teenager daughter, and both are in love with the same young soldier. Mother sacrifices herself for Maricchia's marriage, but ultimately falls to her own passion, leading to family disruption.
The She-Wolf
Director David McVicar’s new production brings opera’s favorite double bill to new life, setting the two operas in the same Sicilian setting, separated by two generations. Marcelo Álvarez takes on the rare feat of singing both leading tenor roles. In Cavalleria, he is Turiddu, the young man who abandons Santuzza (Eva-Maria Westbroek) in his pursuit of the married Lola (Ginger Costa-Jackson)—and ends up being killed in a duel with her husband, Alfio (George Gagnidze). In Pagliacci, Álvarez is Canio, the leader of a traveling vaudeville troupe. Patricia Racette sings Nedda, his unfaithful young wife, whose plans to run away with her lover are foiled by her spurned admirer Tonio (George Gagnidze)—with equally tragic consequences. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.
The Metropolitan Opera: Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci
This film, based on a 19th-century novel by Giovanni Verga, depicts the torrid history of three generations of a Sicilian family. The Malavoglia family, comprising fishermen and women, navigates the challenges of living in a world of shifting fortunes.
The House by the Medlar Tree
"Tigre Reale" (1916) was the film that consolidated Frau Menichelli's stardom, a film more than suitable for her performing skills and silent idiosyncrasy that any silent diva would kill to star in… In "Tigre Reale", Frau Menichelli performs the part of Frau Natka, a Russian countess with a troublesome past and an uncertain future. She was married to a revolutionary and the matrimony ended in tragedy. She likes to flirt with men but due to her traumatic sentimental past, she doesn't allow herself attachments. That is until she meets a young diplomat who will help her to make up her mind and exorcize her old sentimental traumas.
The Royal Tigress
No description available.
Cavalleria Rusticana
No description available.