The aesthetic and stylistic orientations of music in the context of the cultural climate of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were in a continuous transformation. Starting with Wagner, who triggers the romantic crisis, in parallel with the dissolution of tonality, and continuing with Verdi, who constitutes a landmark for the advanced opera composers, the stage transition between the two centuries represents the period of the greatest daring, and prepares the modern trends of music of the 20th century. The themes addressed are naturalistic, taken from the actual life of simple people, in minor keys, in which bright arias are inserted, with intonations typical of ballads, serenades and songs. A specific characteristic of verism is given by the attitude of the characters in the opera who are in a resigned pose of an observer of the events unfolding in front of them, without fruiting their feeling of rebellion, content with a passive attitude towards society.