“Cavalleria rusticana” by Pietro Mascagni

Notes on the Libretto

The English text now presented on LibrettoArchive is a new translation prepared from the Italian libretto, replacing an older English version by Willard G. Day. That translation, published in an early twentieth-century Rullman souvenir libretto, frequently reshaped the text for rhyme and theatrical effect. At times the departure is considerable: Lola v’adorna il tetto in malo modo—Santuzza’s bitterly euphemistic accusation that Lola is dishonoring Alfio’s home—became the far more explicit “Lola has turned your home into a brothel.” The new translation retains the indirection of the Italian rather than intensifying it.

Other phrases resist neat English equivalents. The recurring compare and comare are traditional forms of address deeply colored by the opera’s Sicilian setting; they have therefore been retained as “Compare” and “Comare” rather than flattened into “Master” or “Mistress.” Santuzza’s terrible A te la mala Pasqua, spergiuro! likewise gains force from its stark simplicity: “A bad Easter to you, perjurer!”

The final confrontation contains an equally important detail easily obscured in translation. Turiddu embraces Alfio and bites his right ear; Alfio’s avete morso a buono acknowledges that the challenge is meant in earnest. An early English libretto itself explains the bite as part of the rustic Sicilian code governing their deadly encounter.