Cavalleria rusticana: Italian–English Side-by-Side Libretto With Translation

I have just completed a new English translation of the libretto of Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, now available on LibrettoArchive.

An English translation of the opera had been available on the website for many years, but it was an older translation that often took considerable liberties with the Italian text. While revisiting the libretto, I found many passages where the English changed the original meaning, added details that were not present in the Italian, or sacrificed accuracy for rhyme and poetic effect.

I decided to replace it with a new translation of my own.

My goal was to stay much closer to the original Italian while keeping the English natural and readable. This is especially important for a side-by-side libretto: when the Italian and English appear next to each other, the translation should allow the reader to follow what the characters are actually saying, line by line.

Cavalleria rusticana may be a short opera, but its libretto is full of details that matter—the religious language surrounding Easter, the Sicilian forms of address, Santuzza’s anguish and jealousy, and the code of honor that leads to the final confrontation between Turiddu and Alfio. I have tried to preserve these details rather than replace them with freer English equivalents.

The complete Italian–English libretto with the new translation is now available on LibrettoArchive.

A paperback side-by-side edition is also planned, but it is not available yet.