Pagliacci

For the Seattle based pizza chain of restaurants, see Pagliacci Pizza. For film versions of the opera, see Pagliacci (film).

Cover of the first edition of Pagliacci published by E. Sonzogno, Milan, 1892.

Pagliacci (Italian pronunciation: [paʎˈʎjattʃi]; Players, or Clowns) is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe. (Its name is sometimes incorrectly rendered as I Pagliacci with a definite article.)

Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on May 21, 1892, conducted by Arturo Toscanini with Adelina Stehle as Nedda, Fiorello Giraud as Canio, Victor Maurel as Tonio, and Mario Ancona as Silvio. Nellie Melba created the role of Nedda in London in 1892, soon after its Italian premiere, and in New York in 1893.

It is the only opera of Leoncavallo that is still widely staged.

Composition history

Around 1890, when Cavalleria rusticana premiered, Leoncavallo was a little-known composer. After seeing its success, he decided to write a similar opera. It was to be in one act and composed in the verismo style. A lawsuit was brought against him for plagiarism of the libretto by Catulle Mendès, whose 1887 play entitled La Femme de Tabarin shares many themes with Pagliacci, namely the play-within-the-play and the clown murdering his wife. Leoncavallo's defense was that the plot of the opera was based on a true story he had witnessed as a child. He claimed that a servant had taken him to a commedia performance in which the events of the opera had actually occurred. He also claimed that his father, who was a judge, had led the criminal investigation, and that he had documents supporting these claims but none of this evidence has ever appeared. Today most critics agree that the libretto was indeed inspired by the Mendès play since Leoncavallo was living in Paris at the time of its premiere, and it is likely that he saw the play.

Performance history

Pagliacci was an instant success and it remains popular today. It contains one of opera's most famous and popular arias, "Recitar! ... Vesti la giubba" (literally, To perform! ... Put on the costume, but more often known in English as On with the motley). One of Enrico Caruso's recordings of Vesti la giubba was the first record to sell one million copies.

Since 1893, it has usually been performed in a double bill with Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, a pairing referred to in the operatic world colloquially as "Cav and Pag". Although this pairing has long been the norm in most places, some theatres have been very late in staging these two works together. For example, the Mikhaylovsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg presented the double bill for the first time only in February 2009. It has also been known to have been staged as a single work, as in the case of Washington National Opera's November 1997 by Franco Zeffirelli with Placido Domingo as Canio and Véronica Villarroel as Nedda.

The UK premiere took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London on 19 May 1893. It was last given in that house in July 2003 in a production by Zeffirelli, Canio having been sung by Domingo and Nedda by Angela Gheorghiu. The US premiered followed a month after Covent Garden's at the Grand Opera House in New York on 15 June, while the Metropolitan Opera first staged the work on 11 December of the same year (along with Orfeo ed Euridice), the Nedda being sung by Nellie Melba. The Met combined it with Cavalleria rusticana for the first time 11 days later on 22 December. Since 1893 it has been presented there 712 times (most recently in April 2009), and since 1944, exclusively with Cavalleria.

As a staple of the standard operatic repertoire, it appears as number 14 on Opera America's list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.

Roles

The French baritone, Victor Maurel, who created the role of Tonio.

Enrico Caruso as Canio in Pagliacci, one of his signature roles.

Role	Role in Commedia	Voice type	Premiere Cast, May 21, 1892 (Conductor: Arturo Toscanini )
Canio, head of the troupe	Pagliaccio	tenor	Fiorello Giraud
Nedda, Canio's wife, in love with Silvio	Colombina, Pagliaccio's wife, in love with Arlecchino	soprano	Adelina Stehle
Tonio, the fool	Taddeo	baritone	Victor Maurel
Beppe, actor	Arlecchino, Colombina's lover	tenor
Silvio, Nedda's lover		baritone	Mario Ancona
Chorus of villagers

Synopsis

Place: Calabria, near Montalto, on the Feast of the Assumption

Time: between 1865 and 1870.

Prologue

During the overture, the curtain rises. From behind a second curtain, Tonio, dressed as his commedia character Taddeo, addresses the audience. (Si può?... Si può?... Signore! Signori! ... Un nido di memorie.) He reminds the audience that actors have feelings too, and that the show is about real humans.

Act 1

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the commedia troupe enters the village, and the villagers cheer. Canio describes the night's performance: the troubles of Pagliaccio. He says the play will begin at "ventitre ore". This is an agricultural method of time-keeping, and means the play will begin an hour before sunset. As Nedda steps down from the cart, Tonio offers his hand, but Canio pushes him aside and helps her down himself. The villagers suggest drinking at the tavern. Canio and Beppe accept, but Tonio stays behind. The villagers tease Canio that Tonio is planning an affair with Nedda. Canio warns everyone that while he may act the foolish husband in the play, in real life he will not tolerate other men making advances to Nedda. Shocked, a villager asks if Canio really suspects her. He says no, and sweetly kisses her on the forehead. As the church bells ring vespers, he and Beppe leave for the tavern, and Nedda is left alone.

Nedda, who is cheating on Canio, is frightened by Canio's vehemence (Qual fiamma avea nel guardo), but the birdsong comforts her (Stridono lassu). Tonio returns and confesses his love for her, but she laughs. Enraged, Tonio grabs Nedda, but she takes a whip, strikes him and drives him off. Silvio, who is Nedda's lover, comes from the tavern, where he has left Canio and Beppe drinking. He asks Nedda to elope with him after the performance and, though she is afraid, she agrees. Tonio, who has been eavesdropping, leaves to inform Canio so that he might catch Silvio and Nedda together. Canio and Tonio return and, as Silvio escapes, Nedda calls after him, "I will always be yours!"

Canio chases Silvio but does not catch him and does not see his face. He demands that Nedda tell him the name of her lover, but she refuses. He threatens her with a knife, but Beppe disarms him. Beppe insists that they prepare for the performance. Tonio tells Canio that her lover will surely give himself away at the play. Canio is left alone to put on his costume and prepare to laugh (Vesti la giubba - "Put on the costume").

Act 2

As the crowd arrives, Nedda, costumed as Colombina, collects their money. She whispers a warning to Silvio, and the crowd cheers as the play begins.

Colombina's husband Pagliaccio has gone away until morning, and Taddeo is at the market. She anxiously awaits her lover Arlecchino, who soon serenades her from beneath her window. Taddeo returns and confesses his love, but she mocks him and lets in Arlecchino through the window. He boxes Taddeo's ears and kicks him out of the room, and the audience laughs.

Arlecchino and Colombina dine, and he delivers a sleeping potion. When Pagliaccio returns, Colombina will drug him and elope with Arlecchino. Taddeo bursts in, warning that Pagliaccio is suspicious of his wife and is about to return. As Arlecchino escapes through the window, Colombina tells him, "I will always be yours!"

As Canio enters, he hears Nedda and exclaims "Name of God! Those same words!" He tries to continue the play, but loses control and demands to know her lover's name. Nedda, hoping to continue the play, calls Canio by his stage name "Pagliaccio" to remind him of the audience's presence. He answers with his arietta: No! Pagliaccio non son! and states that if his face is pale, it is not from the stage makeup but from the shame she has brought to him. The crowd, impressed by his emotional and very real performance, cheers him.

Nedda, trying again to continue the play, admits that she has been visited by the very innocent Arlecchino. Canio, furious and forgetting the play, demands the name of her lover. Nedda swears she will never tell him, and the crowd finally realizes they are not acting. Silvio begins to fight his way toward the stage. Canio, grabbing a knife from the table, stabs Nedda. As she dies she calls: "Help! Silvio!". Canio then stabs Silvio and declares: La Commedia è finita! - "The play is over!". Originally, Tonio had the final line, La commedia è finita! but it has traditionally been given to Canio. Leoncavallo himself sanctioned this substitution.

Orchestration

The orchestra consists of 2 flutes, 1 piccolo, 2 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, 2 harps, timpani, tubular bells, percussion (triangle, cymbals, bass drum, glockenspiel) and strings. Additionally, there is an onstage violin, oboe, trumpet, and bass drum. Also included in the final pages of the score is a part in the percussion section marked "T.T." (surprisingly not assigned in the instrumentation page at the beginning) which leads us to assume that it is actually a tam-tam (partly because Mascagni used one, although to much greater effect, at the final moments of Cavalleria rusticana). It is given three strokes right after Tonio/Canio announce[s] "The comedy is over".

Recordings

See Pagliacci discography

In 1907, Pagliacci became the first entire opera to be recorded, by the Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli. In 1931, it became the first complete opera to be filmed with sound, in a now obscure version starring the tenor Fernando Bertini, in his only film, as Canio, and the San Carlo Opera Company.

The opera has been recorded many times, especially during and after the 1940s; according to one source, there are 137 recordings in existence.

In popular culture

• The 2009 murder mystery musical Laugh Clown, Laugh takes place backstage of a production of Pagliacci. The character Phillip Winchester sings a song that summarizes the opera's plot, while the events of the musical also have ironic connections.

References

• Pagliacci Libretto in English translation
• San Francisco Opera Guild, 2003, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci: A Teacher's Guide and Resource Book (accessed 23 May 2007)
• Sansone, Matteo, 1989, 'The Verismo of Ruggero Leoncavallo: A Source Study of Pagliacci', Music & Letters, Vol. 70, No. 3 (Aug., 1989).
• Sims, Michael, 2007, 'Cavalleria rusticana, I Pagliacci, and the Verismo Style', Programme notes, Concert Opera Boston (accessed 21 May 2007)