("His Master's Voice") at La Scala under the direction of Mascagni, who recorded a special spoken introduction. EMI later reissued the recording on LP and CD. In 1942, after an audience with Pope Pius XII, newspapers quoted Mascagni, a Roman Catholic, as saying that his tuberculosis-stricken niece was cured after receiving a rosary and silver medal blessed by the pope. In April 1943, Mascagni appeared for the last time at La Scala to conduct L'amico Fritz. By that time he had to conduct sitting on a chair. The last season of Mascagni at the Rome Opera (Cavalleria rusticana and L'amico Fritz) was 1944–45. Mascagni died on 2 August 1945 in his apartment at the Grand Hotel Plaza in Rome. The funeral ceremony was on 4 August. The Italian authorities were not present. In 1951, his body was transferred from Rome to Livorno, where Mascagni finally received an official homage. On 7 December 1963, the centenary of Mascagni's birth, a plaque was erected in Rome on the Albergo del Sole where Mascagni stayed during the premiere of Cavalleria rusticana. Selected works Operas Cavalleria rusticana (17 May 1890 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) L'amico Fritz (31 October 1891 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) I Rantzau (10 November 1892 Teatro La Pergola, Florence) Guglielmo Ratcliff (16 February 1895 Teatro alla Scala, Milan), composed between 1885 and the early 1890s Silvano (25 March 1895 Teatro alla Scala, Milan) Zanetto (2 March 1896 Liceo Musicale, Pesaro) Iris (22 November 1898 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) Le maschere (17 January 1901 Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa – Teatro Regio, Turin – Teatro alla Scala, Milan – Teatro La Fenice, Venice – Teatro Filarmonico, Verona – Teatro Costanzi, Rome) Amica (16 March 1905, Monte Carlo, in French) Isabeau (2 June 1911 Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires) Parisina (15 December 1913 Teatro alla Scala, Milan) Lodoletta (30 April 1917 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) Il piccolo Marat (2 May 1921 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) Pinotta (23 March 1932 Casinò, San Remo), adapted from the cantata In filanda (1881) Nerone (16 January 1935 Teatro alla Scala, Milan), with music written between the 1890s and the 1930s Operetta Sì (13 December 1919 Teatro Quirino, Rome) Sacred music Messa di Gloria in F major for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1888) Orchestral music A Giacomo Leopardi, cantata for voice (soprano) and orchestra (19 June 1898, Teatro Persiani, Recanati) Il re a Napoli, romanza for tenor and orchestra (18 March 1885 Teatro Municipale, Cremona)