verismo

American  

[vuh-riz-moh, ve-reez-maw] / vəˈrɪz moʊ, vɛˈriz mɔ /

noun

1. the use of everyday life and actions in artistic works: introduced into opera in the early 1900s in reaction to contemporary conventions, which were seen as artificial and untruthful.

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verismo British  

/ veˈrismo, vɛˈrɪzməʊ /

noun

1. music a school of composition that originated in Italian opera towards the end of the 19th century, drawing its themes from real life and emphasizing naturalistic elements. Its chief exponent was Puccini

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Etymology

Origin of verismo

1905–10; < Italian: realism, equivalent to ver ( o ) true (< Latin vērus ) + -ismo -ism

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

verismo

Puccini’s “Turandot,” a verismo opera set in a fabled version of ancient China, makes for an odd love story.

From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2024

She felt that it was a logical fit for her voice — a way to combine her Met history of bel canto works, like Donizetti’s Tudor operas, and verismo classics like Puccini’s “Tosca.”

From New York Times ● Sep. 25, 2022

“Verdi has been for years and years, has been performed like a sort of parody of the verismo, like a bad Puccini,” he said.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2022

But that world had just been transformed by the Great War, and there had been enough of the grim reality that Puccini poignantly underscored in his verismo operas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2020

Twins the operas are in spirit; twins in their capacity as supreme representatives of verismo; twins in the fitness of their association; but twins they are not in respect of parentage or age.

From A Second Book of Operas by Henry Edward Krehbiel