Mascagni, Pietro — Intermezzo Sinfonico from Cavalleria Rusticana

Pietro Mascagni’s (1863—1945) Intermezzo Sinfonico from his opera Cavalleria Rusticana needs no presentation. The idea of this edition comes from an update to an arrangement created for a friend’s wedding in 2010. While arranging, I stumbled upon the composer’s autograph of this Intermezzo, for piano solo, and decided to add a modern engraving of it to the mix. Finally, an orchestral score and a full set of parts have been included to close the circle.

There are, therefore, three versions of this piece:

• ASE 0055: for piano solo, based on the composer’s autograph from 1888.
• ASE 0057: arrangement for cello ensemble (min. 8 cellos), based on the piano part and not on the orchestral version, which differs greatly in dynamics and agogic marking
• ASE 0058: original orchestration, score and parts

This edition’s piano solo and original orchestration versions inaugurate a new series dedicated to Italian composers and/or to composers who thought about Italy while writing their music. It is called: Viva l’Italia!