Cavalleria Rusticana was one of Mascagni's first works and his most successful opera. He based the opera on a play of the same name. In a small Sicilian town, the villager Turiddu has been up to no good. His ex-flame, Lola, has married another, so Turiddu, in a bid to make Lola jealous, has toyed with the affections of local girl Santuzza, who truly loves him. This oldest trick in the book works on Lola, who welcomes Turiddu back to her arms. The spurned Santuzza informs on them to Lola's insanely jealous husband, Alfio, with unintended consequences.

Just as Mascagni achieved his greatest success with Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo found his greatest success with Pagliacci, which debuted about two years after Cavalleria Rusticana. But unlike the character Alfio, whose business trips kept him blissfully unaware of his being cuckolded, Canio, the insanely jealous husband in Pagliacci, thinks of nothing but whether his wife, Nedda, is cheating (she is) and with whom (the dashing villager Silvio). Canio and Nedda belong to a traveling theater troupe that arrives in a small Italian town to perform a play about--what else?--an unfaithful wife, called Colombina, and her jealous husband, the clown Pagliaccio. When Canio receives confirmation of Nedda's adultery from a rebuffed would-be suitor of hers, he goes wild with jealousy.

With rotating casts, featuring Michele Detwiler and Lori Decter as Santuzza, Adam Flowers and Etsel Skelton as Turiddu, Vicente Solbes and Christopher Campbell as Canio, Christina Major and Kimarie Torre as Nedda and special guest, renowned conductor George Cleve.

Opera San Jose presents "Cavalleria Rusticana" and "Pagliacci," Nov. 8­30, at the Montgomery Theatre, Market and San Carlos streets, San Jose. Tickets are $43­$63. For more information, call 408.437.4450 or visit www.operasj.org.