Pagliacci

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Pagliacci (Clowns) is an opera in two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It is the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'Arte troupe. It premiered in Milan in 1892, and it is Leoncavallo's only successful opera. Since 1893 it has usually been performed in a so-called "Cav and Pag" double bill with Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. The title is sometimes incorrectly rendered I Pagliacci (The Clowns). Pagliacci is the 14th most performed opera in North America according to Opera America.

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[edit] History

Around 1890, when Cavalleria Rusticana premiered, Leoncavallo was a little-known composer. After seeing Cav's success, he decided to write a similar opera. It was to be one act long and composed in the verismo style. Most modern-day critics say that the libretto was inspired by an 1887 play of Catulle Mendès entitled La Femme de Tabarin. Leoncavallo was living in Paris at the time of the premiere, and it is likely that he saw the play.

However, Leoncavallo insisted 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. None of this evidence has ever appeared, and most critics believe that Leoncavallo was trying to make the opera seem more realistic.

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. (To perform! ... Put on the costume) One of Enrico Caruso's recordings of Vesti la giubba was the first record to sell one million copies. In 1907, Pagliacci became the first entire opera to be recorded.

[edit] Roles

The main characters are actors in a travelling commedia dell'Arte troupe.

  • Canio, head of the troupe; Pagliaccio in the play (tenor)
  • Nedda, Canio's wife; Colombina in the play (soprano)
  • Tonio, the fool; Taddeo in the play (baritone)
  • Beppe, actor; Arlecchino in the play (tenor)
  • Silvio, a villager (baritone)
  • Chorus of villagers

[edit] Orchestration

The orchestra consists of 2 flutes, 1 piccolo, 2 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 1 Basset-horn, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, 2 harps, timpani, tubular bells, percussion, and strings. Additionally, there is an onstage violin, oboe, trumpet, and bass drum.

[edit] Synopsis

The story is set in Calabria, near Montalto, on the Feast of the Assumption, between 1865 and 1870.

[edit] 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!) He reminds the audience that actors have feelings too, and that the show is about real humans.

[edit] Act I

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. 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, but the birdsong comforts her. Tonio returns and confesses his love for her, but she laughs. Enraged, Tonio begins to grab her, 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 get Canio. They 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)

[edit] Act II

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, she plans to 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, tells him it is Pagliaccio, but he proclaims that he is no clown and he loves her dearly. (No! Pagliaccio non son!) The crowd, impressed by his emotional performance, cheers him.

Nedda, trying again to continue the play, admits that her lover is Arlecchino. Canio, furious, demands the name or her life, but she swears she will never tell him, and the crowd 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 stabs Silvio and declares, "La Commedia e finito." ("The commedia is over!")

[edit] Notes

  • Originally, Tonio had the final line, "The commedia is over!" but the line has traditionally been given to Canio. Leoncavallo himself sanctioned this substitution.

[edit] Noted arias

  • Prologue ("Si può? Signore! Signori!") (Tonio)
  • "Un tal gioco" (Canio)
  • "Stridono lassu" (Nedda)
  • "Nedda! Silvio, a Quest'ora" (Silvio, Nedda)
  • "Vesti la giubba" (Canio)
  • "Ohe! Ohe! Presto!" (Chorus)
  • "O Colombina" (Beppe)
  • "No, Pagliaccio Non Son" (Canio)

[edit] Pagliacci in popular culture

  • During the 1928–1930 Broadway run of the Marx Brothers' last full stage play, Animal Crackers, Groucho Marx would recite a self-penned poem (set to music) during a scene change. The poem is as close to a philosophy on life as Groucho Marx ever wrote, even if it is mostly made up of non sequiturs and puns. The poem concludes with the line, "So be a real life Pagliacci and laugh, clown, laugh". The poem is not included in the 1930 film version of Animal Crackers, but it is recited on Groucho's 1974 comedy album An Evening With Groucho and is reprinted in Robert S. Bader's collection, Groucho Marx: and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales.
  • In the Marx Brothers film A Night at the Opera, the character Rodolfo Lassparri has just finished performing Pagliacci and is still in his clown costume. The arrogant Lassparri, still upset by a previous argument, turns to Groucho and asks "Well, what have you got to say?" Groucho, in typical fashion, answers: "Just this: can you sleep on your stomach with such big buttons on your pajamas?"
  • Later in the same film, Groucho sings a couple of lines of "Vesti la giubba" with his own lyrics: Ridi Pagliacci ... I love you very muchee ... !
  • The song, "Me Myself and I" by the Dramatics (on one of their best selling albums, "Dramatic Jackpot"), had a line which referred to Pagliacci. The line's words were, "Just like old Pagliacci, we're the life of every party."
  • In an episode of Seinfeld titled "The Opera", the four principles attend a performance of Pagliacci starring Luciano Pavarotti. Elaine's stalker, "Crazy" Joe Davola, buys a ticket from Kramer and sits near Elaine while dressed in a clown suit.
  • In the Smokey Robinson & the Miracles song "Tears of a Clown," the singer (with a questionable grasp of Italian) likens himself to "Pagliacci."
  • In the film The Untouchables, Al Capone goes to see Pagliacci and later toasts the star of the production. Specifically, Al Capone (Robert DeNiro) is seen, in his opera box, crying at the performance of the aria, when his henchmen enter and whisper in his ear the news that he has been waiting for: Jim Malone (Sean Connery) has been murdered by Capone's men. Laughing at this news, Capone simultaneously weeps at the tragic Pagliaccio on the stage. This neatly mirrors the song itself: the clown who simultaneously laughs and cries.
  • Woody Allen's Zelig, a film about a man who adapts his personality and skills to those around him, shows a photo of Leonard Zelig (played by Mr. Allen) as Pagliaccio. (It is actually a cleverly modified photo of Caruso in the same costume.)
  • "Vesti la giubba" is used in the "Dabba Don" episode of the cartoon Harvey Birdman in a montage depicting violent crimes.
  • In The Simpsons episode "The Italian Bob", Krusty The Klown is featured singing in a performance of Pagliacci. He changes the lyrics of "Vesti la giubba" to "No more Rice Krispies... we are out of Rice Krispies..." referring to a television advertisement from the 1960s.
  • In Season 2, Episode 4 of the Comedy Central show Strangers With Candy, Stephen Colbert's character is seen dressed as a clown and weeping while "Vesti la giubba" plays in the background.
  • In the comics and its adaptations, the opera is a favorite target of The Joker to the point of being cliché.
  • The opening to Queen's song "It's A Hard Life" is based on "Vesti la giubba".
  • In the Playstation 2 game "Twisted Metal Black", one of the characters, No-Face, was operated while "Vesti la giubba" could be heard in the background.
  • The song Mr Sandman contains the lines
    Mr. Sandman (male voice: "Yeeees?") bring us a dream
    Give him a pair of eyes with a "come-hither" gleam
    Give him a lonely heart like Pagliacci
    And lots of wavy hair like Liberace
  • In CSI episode "revenge is best served cold" there is a scene where Grissom is listening to Vesti la Giubba - Pagliacci
  • Alan Moore's graphic novel Watchmen includes a joke about Pagliacci. The joke was about a patient going to a doctor and telling him that he's depressed. The doctor suggests he go see Pagliacci, it would pick him up. The patient cries and says that he is, in fact, Pagliacci.
  • In Green Lantern v3 # 9 - 12, a race of clown-like aliens arms fools with Green Lantern rings to discredit the Green Lantern Corps. These aliens are called the "Poglachi."
  • In the third season Stargate SG-1 episode "Shades of Grey," the aria "Vesti la giubba" from Pagliacci is playing in the background when Maybourne comes to take O'Neill.
  • Nancy Wilson sings of Pagliacci in (I'm Afraid) The Masquerade is Over (Herb Magidson / Allie Wruble)


I guess I'll have to play Pagliacci
And get myself a clown's disguise
And learn to laugh like Pagliacci
With tears in my eyes

[edit] Media

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