"Voi dovrete fare; da madre a Santa!"
It is the cry of a child. "A kiss! Another kiss, mamma! Farewell!"
Lucia calls after him. He is gone, Santuzza comes in with her phrase of
music descriptive of her unhappy love. It grows to a thunderous crash.
Then a hush! A fateful chord! A whispered roll of the drums! A woman is
heard to shriek: "They have killed Neighbor Turiddu!" A crowd of women
rush in excitedly; Santuzza and Lucia fall in a swoon. "Hanno ammazzato
compare Turiddu!" The tragedy is ended.

CHAPTER X

THE CAREER OF MASCAGNI

It would be foolish to question or attempt to deny the merits of the
type of Italian opera established by Mascagni's lucky inspiration. The
brevity of the realistic little tragedy, the swiftness of its movement,
its adherence to the Italian ideal of melody first, its ingenious
combination of song with an illuminative orchestral part--these
elements in union created a style which the composers of Italy, France,
and Germany were quick to adopt. "Pagliacci" was the first fruit of the
movement and has been the most enduring; indeed, so far as America and
England are concerned, "Cavalleria rusticana" and "Pagliacci" are the
only products of the school which have obtained a lasting footing. They
were followed by a flood of Italian, French, and German works in which
low life was realistically portrayed, but, though the manner of
composition was as easily copied as the subjects were found in the
slums, none of the imitators of Mascagni and Leoncavallo achieved even
a tithe of their success. The men themselves were too shrewd and wise
to attempt to repeat the experiment which had once been triumphant.

In one respect the influence of the twin operas was deplorable. I have
attempted to characterize that influence in general terms, but in order
that the lesson may be more plainly presented it seems to me best to
present a few examples in detail. The eagerness with which writers
sought success in moral muck, regardless of all artistic elements, is
strikingly illustrated in an attempt by a German writer, Edmund von
Freihold, [Footnote: I owe this illustration to Ferdinand Pfobl's book
"Die Moderne Oper."] to provide "Cavalleria rusticana" with a sequel.
Von Freihold wrote the libretto for a "music drama" which he called
"Santuzza," the story of which begins long enough after the close of
Verga's story for both the women concerned in "Gavalleria rusticana" to
have grown children. Santuzza has