L'amico Fritz

L'amico Fritz
Opera by Pietro Mascagni
The composer in 1903
LibrettistP. Suardon
LanguageItalian
Based onL'Ami Fritz by Émile Erckmann and Pierre-Alexandre Chatrian
Premiere
31 October 1891 (1891-10-31)

L'amico Fritz (Italian: [laˈmiːko ˈfrits]) is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 from a libretto by P. Suardon (Nicola Daspuro) (with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti), based on the French novel L'ami Fritz by Émile Erckmann and Pierre-Alexandre Chatrian.

While the opera enjoyed some success in its day and is probably Mascagni's most famous work after Cavalleria rusticana, today it is performed far more rarely than Cavalleria, which remains Mascagni's only enduringly popular work outside Italy, where L'amico Fritz and Iris are still in the active repertoire. The "Cherry Duet" between Fritz and Suzel in Act 2 is the best known piece in the opera and is often performed separately in concert.