Rapsodia satanica

In this film Alba D’Oltrevita (Lyda Borelli) makes a pact with the devil: she will receive eternal youthful beauty from him, but in exchange for that she has to give up love. Everything works out, until Alba meets two brothers at a party and they both fall in love with her. She flirts with gay abandon, but is not allowed to love either of them. When one of the brothers commits an act of despair, she can no longer contain her feelings.Pietro Mascagni, opera composer of e.g. Cavalleria rusticana, wrote in 1915 an orchestral score especially for the film. Peter Delpeut, in his book Diva Dolorosa, about a performance of Rapsodia Satanica: ‘Borelli danced to the sounds of the orchestra and her meticulously portrayed emotions radiated into the auditorium. Wagner and Puccini were the references. Mascagni the magician…’