I Rantzau is an opera in four acts by Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...

 (1892), based on a libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Guido Menasci

Guido Menasci

Guido Menasci was an Italian opera librettist.His best known work is Cavalleria rusticana written with Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti. He also provided the libretti for Mascagni's I Rantzau, Zanetto, for Umberto Giordano's Regina Diaz and Viktor Parma's Stara pesem .Menasci was born in...

 and Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti

Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti

Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti was an Italian librettist, best known for his friendship and collaboration with the composer Pietro Mascagni...

, based on the play Les Rantzau (1873) by French writers Erckmann and Chatrian

Emile Erckmann

Erckmann-Chatrian was the name used by French authors Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian , nearly all of whose works were jointly written....

, after their novel (1882) Les Deux Frères (The Two Brothers).

It was first performed at the Teatro della Pergola

Teatro della Pergola

The Teatro della Pergola is a historic opera house in Florence, Italy. It is located in the centre of the city on the Via della Pergola, from which the theatre takes its name...

 in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 on 10 November 1892.

The overture is popular and was recorded in Berlin with Mascagni conducting, in 1927. The soprano solo in Act I is an excellent example of true verismo

Verismo

Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s....

 aria, and has an emotional impact that parallels the composer's work in Cavalleria rusticana

Cavalleria rusticana

Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...

. The soprano/tenor duet is impressive enough (and has been recorded in modern times by Placido Domingo and Renato Scotto), but the opera remains elusive, mainly because only one recording has been made of the full opera, and that is difficult to obtain.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 10 November 1892 (Conductor: - )
Gianni Rantzau	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Mattia Battistini
Giorgio	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Fernando De Lucia Fernando De Lucia Fernando De Lucia was an Italian opera tenor and singing teacher who enjoyed an international career....
Luisa	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Hariclea Darclée Hariclea Darclée Hariclea Darclée was a celebrated Romanian operatic soprano. She possessed an agile, powerful, and beautiful voice that was wielded with a fine technique. An extremely beautiful woman, Darclée's stage presence was as elegant and refined as her singing...
Giacomo Rantzau	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Luigi Broglio
Fiorenzo	baritone	Edoardo Sottolana
Giulia	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Stefania Collamarini
Lebel	tenor	Giovanni Paroli