Nerone is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three 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...

, 1935, from 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 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 Nerone by Pietro Cossa

Pietro Cossa

Pietro Cossa , Italian dramatist, was born at Rome, and claimed descent from the family of John XXIII, deposed by the council of Constance....

. Most of Mascagni's music was drawn from a failed project Vistilia (from 1907) - the music made to 'fit' a wholly unconnected liberetto.

It received its first performance on January 16, 1935 at La Scala, Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 which was conducted by Mascagni himself.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 16 January 1935 (Conductor: Pietro Mascagni)
Atte	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...	Lina Bruna Rasa Lina Bruna Rasa Lina Bruna Rasa was an Italian operatic soprano. She was particularly noted for her performances in the verismo repertoire and was a favourite of Pietro Mascagni who considered her the ideal Santuzza...
Claudio Cesare Nerone	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...	Aureliano Pertile Aureliano Pertile Aureliano Pertile was an Italian lyric-dramatic tenor. He is considered to have been one of the most exciting operatic artists of the inter-war period, and one of the most important tenors of the entire 20th century.- Life and career :Pertile was born in Montagnana, Northern Italy, 18 days after...
Clivio Rufo	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...	Duilio Baronti
Egloge	soprano	Margherita Carosio Margherita Carosio Margherita Carosio was an Italian operatic soprano. She was one of the most remarkable light lyric sopranos of her generation. Her warm, expressive and expertly produced voice is preserved in many Parlophone and Ultraphon recordings made before World War II, as well as a memorable series made for...
Epafrodìto	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...	Fabio Ronchi
Faònte	tenor	Gino Del Signore
Icèlo	tenor	Giuseppe Nessi Giuseppe Nessi -Life:Nessi was born in Bergamo, near Milan in Italy. He made his debut in Saluzzo in 1916, in the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. However, on the advice of renowned Italian conductor Tullio Serafin, the majority of his career was focussed on character tenor roles...
Menècrate	baritone	Apollo Granforte Apollo Granforte Apollo Granforte was an Italian opera singer and one of the leading baritones active during the inter-war period of the 20th century.-Life and career:...
Vinìcio	baritone	Aristide Baracchi
Nevio	tenor	Ettore Parmeggiani
Pastore	tenor	Nello Palai
Basilio	bass	Tancredi Pasero Tancredi Pasero Tancredi Pasero was an Italian bass who enjoyed a long and distinguished singing career in his native country and abroad.-Career & recordings:...
Petronio	bass	Giuseppe Noto
Mucrone	bass	Luciano Donaggio
Eulogio	bass	Franco Zaccarini