Domenico Monleone

Who was Domenico Monleone?

Domenico Monleone was an Italian composer of operas, most noted for his opera Cavalleria rusticana of 1907, which for a while rivalled the success of Mascagni's work of the same name which was from the same source. The work was the third opera to be based on Verga’s 1884 theatrical adaptation of his own short story, Cavalleria rusticana, Stanislao Gastaldon’s Mala Pasqua being the first, and Mascagni's famous opera being the second. Mascagni and his lawyers intervened and Monleone changed the opera ‘beyond recognition’ setting the music to a new libretto. In this form it was presented as La giostra dei falchi in 1914.

There have been recent revivals of Monleone's original Cavalleria rusticana in Tirana and in Montpellier in 2001. Also in Albania there has been a revival of Il mistero conducted by Danile Pacitti which has been released on CD.