Iris

Recorded Live at the Teatro Goldoni, Livorno, 2017

Iris — Plot

Following the runaway success of Cavalleria rusticana in 1890 at the age of 27, Mascagni did not rest on his laurels. In just a few years, he completed five operas, including Iris, premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1898. Mascagni might well have taken for his own Puccini's famous quip, “Against everything and everyone, make a work from melody”. And in Iris it is melodic invention which shows the composer's genius at its greatest. A melody by Mascagni is usually long, smooth and Italian-sounding; and Iris is full-on melody all the way, particularly in such crowd-pleasers as Jor's Serenade, the “Hymn of the Sun” or the duet in Act II “Oh come al tuo sottile corpo s'aggira”, which includes the famous “Piovra”. Furtheremore, with a little effort listeners can identify what would be the various musical “numbers”. In Iris, Mascagni is almost obsessively attentive to recitative and his exemplary flexibility at times recalls the sublime "conversation style" "invented" by Puccini.

• Runtime
• 140 min
• Genres
• Music
• Director
• Hiroki Ihara

Iris — Cast

M

Manrico Signorini Il Cieco Paoletta Marrocu Iris

P

Paolo Atognetti Osaka

C

Carmine Monaco d'Ambrosia Kyoto

A

Alessandra Rossi Dhia / Una Guecha

D

Didier Pieri Un Cenciauolo / Un Merciaiuolo

T

Tommaso Tomboloni Cenciaiuolo

M

Marco Innamorati Cenciaiuoli