Following the runaway success of Cavalleria rusticana in 1890 at the age of 27 Mascagni did not rest on his laurels In just a few years he completed five operas including Iris premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1898 Mascagni might well have taken for his own Puccinis famous quip Against everything and everyone make a work from melody And in Iris it is melodic invention which shows the composers genius at its greatest A melody by Mascagni is usually long smooth and Italiansounding and Iris is fullon melody all the way particularly in such crowdpleasers as Jors Serenade the Hymn of the Sun or the duet in Act II Oh come al tuo sottile corpo saggira which includes the famous Piovra Furtheremore with a little effort listeners can identify what would be the various musical numbers In Iris Mascagni is almost obsessively attentive to recitative and his exemplary flexibility at times recalls the sublime conversation style invented by Puccini
