question: What aria is from a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano? 
answer: "La mamma morta " (They killed my mother) is an aria from act 3 of the 1896 opera "Andrea Chénier" by Umberto Giordano.
context: Title: Andrea Chénier
  Passage: Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica.  It was first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan.  The opera's story is based loosely on the life of the French poet André Chénier (1762–1794), who was executed during the French Revolution.  The character Carlo Gérard is partly based on Jean-Lambert Tallien, a leading figure in the Revolution.
  Title: Mala vita
  Passage: Mala vita (Wretched Life) is an opera in three acts composed by Umberto Giordano to a libretto by Nicola Daspuro adapted from Salvatore Di Giacomo and Goffredo Cognetti's verismo play of the same name.  Giordano's first full-length opera, "Mala vita" premiered on 21 February 1892 at the Teatro Argentina.  It was subsequently performed in Naples, Vienna, Berlin and Milan, and other Italian cities over the next two years.  In 1897 a considerably re-worked and revised version under the title "Il voto" (The Vow) premiered in Milan.  Within a few years both versions had disappeared from the repertoire.  Amongst its rare modern revivals was the 2002 performance at the Teatro Umberto Giordano in Foggia which was recorded live and released on the Bongiovanni label.
  Title: Madame Sans-Gêne (opera)
  Passage: Madame Sans-Gêne is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano.  The libretto was taken from Victorien Sardou and Émile Moreau's play, adapted for the opera by Renato Simoni.
  Title: Fedora (opera)
  Passage: Fedora is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the play "Fédora" by Victorien Sardou.  Along with "Andrea Chénier" and "Siberia", it is one of the most notable works of Giordano.
  Title: La cena delle beffe
  Passage: La cena delle beffe ("The Jesters' Supper") is an opera in four acts composed by Umberto Giordano to an Italian libretto by Sem Benelli adapted from his 1909 play of the same name.  The opera premiered on 20 December 1924 at La Scala.  Milan.  The story, set in Florence at the time of Lorenzo de' Medici, recounts the rivalry between Giannetto Malespini and Neri Chiaramantesi for the affections of the beautiful Ginevra and Giannetto's thirst for revenge over a cruel joke played on him by Neri and his brother Gabriello.  Giannetto's revenge "joke" ultimately leads Neri to murder both Ginevra and (by mistake) his own brother.  The opera ends with Neri's descent into madness.
  Title: Emilio Venturini
  Passage: Emilio Venturini (1878 - 1952) was an Italian operatic lyric tenor known for his portrayal of character roles.  He made his professional opera debut in 1900 in Italy where he remained for the next several years.  In 1901 he sang the role of Brighella in Mascagni's "Le maschere" at the Teatro Regio in Turin.  He made his La Scala debut in 1903 as Froh in Wagner's "Das Rheingold" and sang in the premiere of Umberto Giordano's "Siberia".  In 1904, he originated the role of Prince Yamadori in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" at La Scala.  In 1905, Venturini joined the roster of the Opéra National de Paris.  In 1907 he moved to London to sing with Royal Opera at Covent Garden.  In 1910, Venturini became a member of the Chicago Opera Association where he performed roles until the summer of 1917.  While in Chicago he sang mostly character parts but did sing some major roles like Turiddu in "Cavalleria rusticana", Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" and the Pinkerton in "Madama Butterfly".  In 1911 he sang the roles of Cassio in Verdi's "Otello" and Spoletta in Puccini's "Tosca" at the Metropolitan Opera.  Venturini also returned to Italy for brief periods in 1910, 1911, and 1916 to perform roles with the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.  In 1921, Venturini joined the roster at La Scala and sang roles with that opera house until 1948.  He notably originated the roles of Il Tempiere in Boito's "Nerone" in 1924 and Pang in Puccini's "Turandot" in 1926.  and was the first to record the role of Nereo in Boito's "Mefistofele" in the 1931 La Scala recording.
  Title: Verismo (music)
  Passage: In opera, verismo (meaning "realism", from Italian "vero", meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini.
  Title: La mamma morta
  Passage: "La mamma morta " (They killed my mother) is an aria from act 3 of the 1896 opera "Andrea Chénier" by Umberto Giordano.
  Title: Siberia (opera)
  Passage: Siberia is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano from a libretto by Luigi Illica.  It premiered on 19 December 1903 at La Scala in Milan.  There is no direct source for the plot of "Siberia" and it is quite possible that this is an original work by Illica.  It was suggested at the New York premiere that it was based on Leo Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection" or one of the novels within it.
  Title: Giuseppe Borgatti
  Passage: Giuseppe Borgatti (Cento, March 17, 1871 – Reno di Leggiuno, October 18, 1950) was an Italian dramatic tenor with an outstanding voice.  (See Michael Scott, cited below, for a laudatory appraisal of his singing.)  The creator of the title role in Umberto Giordano's verismo opera "Andrea Chénier", he subsequently earned renown for his performances of the music of Richard Wagner, becoming in 1904 the first Italian tenor to appear at the Bayreuth Festival.  He sang a variety of leading roles at La Scala, Milan, from 1896 until 1914, but deteriorating eyesight caused by glaucoma put a premature end to his stage career, after which he turned successfully to teaching.
citations: Andrea Chénier La mamma morta