Pietro Mascagni (December 7, 1863 – August 2, 1945) is one of the most important Italian opera composers of the turn of the twentieth century. Mascagni's 1890 masterpiece, Cavalleria Rusticana, caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and singlehandedly ushered in the Verismo movement. Though it has been stated and restated ad nauseam that Mascagni, like Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, this is highly inaccurate: L'Amico Fritz and Iris have been popular in Europe since their respective premieres; in fact...

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