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Parisina is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in four acts by Pietro Mascagni. Gabriele D'Annunzio wrote...

Parisina is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in four acts by Pietro Mascagni. Gabriele D'Annunzio wrote the Italian libretto after Byron's poem Parisina (1816). It was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on December 15, 1913. Pietro Mascagni (b Livorno, 7 Dec 1863; d Rome, 2 Aug 1945) achieved success early on in his compositional life with one of his most famous operas, Cavalleria Rusticana. With this opera he overcame at least 70 rival composers to win the Sonzogno competition in 1888. The ensuing fame encouraged a prolific career remembered for the vibrant melodies first heard in Cavalleria Rusticana. Indeed Mascagni was also well known abroad. In England he conducted his own operas in Covent Garden's 1892 Italian Season. He also embarked on a tour of North America in 1902 returning the following year. Unfortunately his prolific compositional career seemed to exhaust his inventiveness a little and a fair few of his premieres were widely criticised by the public and critics alike. Most notably Le maschere which was premiered simultaneously in seven theatres across Italy, the only success being in Rome where Mascagni himself was conducting. In a bid to regain his