Iris is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni to an original Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It premiered on 22 November 1898 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. The story is set in Japan during legendary times.

Background and performance history

In common with all of Mascagni's full-length operas, Iris is now rarely performed, even in Italy, although along with L'Amico Fritz it remains one of the composer's more performed operas. Two of the opera's most memorable numbers are the tenor's serenade ("Apri la tua finestra") and the Hymn to the Sun ("Inno al Sole").

The so-called "aria della piovra" ("Octopus aria"), "Un dì, ero piccina," where Iris describes a screen she had seen in a Buddhist temple when she was a child, depicting an octopus coiling with its tentacles around a young woman, may have been inspired by the print "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife" (1814) by the Japanese artist Hokusai.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 22 November 1898 (Conductor: Pietro Mascagni)
Iris	soprano	Hariclea Darclée
Il Cieco	bass	Giuseppe Tisci Rubini
Osaka	tenor	Fernando De Lucia
Kyoto	baritone	Guglielmo Caruson
Geisha	soprano	Ernestina Tilde Milanesi
Haberdasher	tenor	Eugenio Grossi
Rag merchant	tenor	Piero Schiavazzi
Chorus: shopkeepers, geishas, laundry girls, samurai, citizens

Synopsis

Iris, the naive daughter of a blind old man, lives happily enjoying the simple things of nature. Osaka, a young lord in search of adventures, plans to kidnap her with the help of the brothel-keeper Kyoto. During a puppet show, the libertine enters disguised as a child of the sun, singing a serenade. He conquers the heart of Iris and carries her off. Iris is conducted at the Yoshiwara, a place of perdition, and she wakes up under the illusion of being in Paradise. Osaka tries to seduce her but fails to make her yield to his advances. Tired and annoyed by the simplicity of the girl, Osaka leaves her at the mercy of Kyoto, who exposes her on a balcony of the house. There, she is found and cursed by her father, who does not know about the abduction. Overwhelmed by shame, Iris throws herself into an abyss.