Pietro Mascagni, L'amico Fritz (1891)

Mascagni is almost entirely known--outside of Italy, anyway--for his first opera, Cavalleria rusticana, an overheated drama of adultery and murder. I don't mean "overheated" in a pejorative sense; it's great. But you know, whenever I hear a one-hit wonder's one hit what won, I wonder whether they've done anything else worth hearing--and more often than not, they have. So here's his second opera, and boy, it could hardly be more different than Cavalleria.

There is no murder or adultery to be found here. There's this rich guy named Fritz who's everybody's friend, kind to orphans and everything. The only thing, if thing it be, is that he doesn't want to get married; he prefers chillin' with his bros. The local rabbi, David (yes, apparently these characters are Jewish, which I found kind of interesting and surprising), wants him to get married, but he's all, NO! I will NEVER fall in love with the daughter of a tenant farmer! What happens almost instantly after that...may surprise you.

This is seriously the lowest-key opera you will ever see, possibly the lowest-key that it's even possible to imagine--maybe because Mascagni wanted to show that he wasn't just capable of writing over-the-top melodrama? The only conflict, if you can call it that, is Fritz getting miffed at David for messing with his affairs, but...I really don't think you can call it that. It took me a little while to appreciate the aesthetic--in which, seriously, nothing happens--but I got used to it quickly enough, and then I found it rather sweet. The music is very reminiscent of Cavalleria--mostly the quieter passages thereof, but there are also some intense crescendos, which can sound a little incongruous, accompanying as they do Nothing Much. That's no biggie, though; the score is a winner. The so-called "Cherry Duet" in the second act remains popular as a stand-alone thing, and no wonder; it's a highlight.

It's lucky for us that there's a DVD of this at all. It's not by a big company, and it doesn't feature any big names, but despite that, it's fine. Yes, it would be interesting to see it with the full firepower of a Met production, but I have no big complaints. The cast does demonstrate the difference between perfectly competent opera singers and opera stars,but José Bros and Dimitria Theodossiou are perfectly good as the leads, though my favorite may be Alessandro Paliaga as David, who brings a certain gravitas to the role. The only serious criticism I have is that the sound mixing is...not great. To really hearthe singers over the orchestra, you have to really pump up the volume, and this leads to high notes sounding kind of raspy. It's worth persevering, though. It's easy to see why Cavalleriawas the big hit and this was not, but don't neglect it if you're a fan.