Mascagni / Vivian / Gentile

Si Mascagni / Vivian / Gentile

In the search for a specific form and language, the music of "Sì", under the modernist patina, returns to our most sincere sources, to the spirits of comedy and comic opera. After all, the audience of the melodrama found in the 'little lyric' a sort of deforming nail in which situations, behaviours and conventions were reflected with polite caricature. Such was the Mascagni operetta, which, in it's background of parodist grotesque, re-enacts the petty-bourgeois salacity, even in the title: Sì, from the name of the protagonist, so called because she never knew say no to anyone. In this operetta Mascagni lavished the gifts of his most spontaneous melody; the letters aria sung by Vera, the andantino of the duet in Act 1, the page of the wedding party in act 2, the seduction duet between Chablis and Vera, the "sad waltz" sung by Sì; the prelude for strings opening Act 3. The Mascagni talent however reveal itself in the entire score with his fluent streak, rhythmic liveliness, and skill for developing the ensemble scenes.