Zanetto represented a return by Mascagni to the one-act format of his first opera
Cavalleria rusticana, which had premiered in 1890. The Renaissance setting of
Zanetto was notably different from the gritty contemporary story he used for
Cavalleria rusticana, the work that made him famous. By 1893, Mascagni was simultaneously working on three operas:
Vistilia, based on a novel by set in ancient Rome;
Guglielmo Ratcliff, which he had first started composing in 1882; and
Zanetto, which his publisher,
Edoardo Sonzogno, envisioned being performed in future double bills with
Cavalleria. Mascagni finally finished
Zanetto in October 1895. It was premiered on 2 March 1896 as part of the annual celebrations in honour of
Rossini's birthday at the Liceo Musicale Rossini in Pesaro, where Mascagni was now the director. Two of the conservatory's students, Maria Pizzagalli and Stefania Collamarini, sang the roles of Silvia and Zanetto. The opera was then staged at
La Scala on 18 March with the same cast. Although the opera had been enthusiastically received in Pesaro, the reception at La Scala was lukewarm. Edoardo Pompei, a music critic and early biographer of Mascagni, ascribed this to the slightness of the work which was magnified in large theatre such as La Scala accustomed to grandiose productions: It would be as if one presented a miniature from a fourth-floor window and then expected the public to appreciate it from the street. Despite its reception at La Scala, the work was performed throughout Italy in smaller theatres during the year following its premiere. It was also performed in a private performance in London by the Ravogli sisters, Sofia and Giulia in 1896.
Zanetto had its US premiere on 8 October 1902 at the old
Metropolitan Opera House conducted by Mascagni with
Elena Bianchini-Cappelli as Silvia and
Eugenia Mantelli as Zanetto. As at La Scala, the reception was mixed. The
New York Times critic pronounced the music as "sonorous, mellifluous, and melodious" and praised the performances of Bianchini-Cappelli and Mantelli, but concluded that "outside of Italy,
Zanetto can never become more than a mild curtain-raiser". Premieres in other major Italian opera houses came rather sporadically: 1905 at the
Teatro Costanzi in Rome, 1913 at
La Fenice in Venice, 1920 at the
Teatro Regio in Turin, and 1940 at the
Teatro Comunale in Florence. More recently, the opera was performed at the
New Jersey State Opera in 1988, the Teatro Comunale in Florence in 1996 (with
Sonia Ganassi as Zanetto), the Teatro Astor in
Savona in 2003, the Teatro Goldoni in
Livorno in 2007, and New York's
Carnegie Hall in 2007 (in a concert performance with
Jennifer Larmore as Zanetto). A new production was staged during the summer of 2012 at
Opera Holland Park in London, when it was paired with
Gianni Schicchi by
Puccini. The setting of the 2003 performance in Savona (preserved on DVD) was updated to the 20th century, with an ending that deviated considerably from the original libretto. In the original after renouncing her love for young Zanetto and sending him away, Sylvia weeps alone as she watches him disappear in the distance. However, the Savona director, Beppe De Tomasi, had Sylvia pull out a pistol and shoot herself instead. A brief section of the final music in the scene had to be played twice to accompany the extra stage-business involved in Sylvia's suicide.
Odyssey Opera presented a staged production in the summer of 2013. In 2016, they release their first commercial disc under their own recording label sung by the same cast. ==Roles==