Scenes from The Eternal City

In August 1902, Mascagni was involved with composing incidental music for The Eternal City, a play by then-famous playwright and novelist Hall Caine (1853 - 1931). The first performance of the play and music took place on October 2, 1902 in London. iddb.com also records a series of 92 performances of the play at the Victoria Theater in New York, starting November 17, 1902. A concert performance of the music took place on December 7, 1902 in New York, conducted by the composer.

Viola Allen was the star of The Eternal City. Born in 1869, she had made her debut in Hall Caine's The Christian in 1898, and from then on only played leading woman's parts throughout her entire career.

The first picture below is a poster representing the death of Bruno (Act III - Scene 1). The following pictures come from a manifesto about Viola Allen available in its entirety here. The last picture comes from the magazine The Theatre of October 1902. The two pictures that precede were published in the revised version of the novel written by Hall Caine after the success of the play.