What shall be said about Mascagni and Leoncavallo? What have they done even indirectly for the cause of orchestration? Chronologically, Leoncavallo (1858) precedes Mascagni (1863), but without "Cavalleria rusticana" to establish a precedent, "I Pagliacci" might never have created the furor that it has. A discussion as to the relative merits and defects of their notorious productions would be here out of place. As to their relative orchestration, that of Mascagni shows, on the whole, a lack of genuine musicianly training. Although it must be conceded that he elicits highly dramatic and intensely passionate accents from the orchestra, the substance of his orchestration has, on the whole, a false ring to it and is of a hoarse quality of tone. It lacks balance, lacks taste, lacks judgment, and is at times coarse even to brutality. That of Leoncavallo is decidedly more refined and original. Here again the key-note is a striving after unnatural effects; but the orchestra is at least full of life, impassioned, descriptive. The earlier achievements of Ponchielli, Boïto and Sgambati are assuredly of more enduring worth. These three representative men may be regarded as the only noteworthy Italian composers born after Verdi and before 1850.[90] Such is the present meagre record of a country that can boast of an illustrious throng of preceding prodigies![91] [Footnote 90: Although Giacomo Puccini (1858) has long since been held by his countrymen at his true valuation, it is only during the past few years that the world at large has come to realize that his productions are more significant than those of Mascagni and Leoncavallo who, until 1896, had won an international reputation that temporarily overshadowed that of Puccini. Even though Puccini lays himself open to criticism as to the æsthetic value of his choice of librettos in which ultra-sensationalism frequently plays so conspicuous a rôle, there is no longer any doubt that his operas "La Bohème" and "Tosca" have now been permanently admitted to the standard repertoires of the dramatic stage, and, together with his recent success, "Madam Butterfly," have caused the entire musical world to put their stamp of approval upon the earlier verdict of Puccini's countrymen in regarding him as a worthy successor to Verdi and as the most gifted living representative of Italian operatic art.]