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Pagliacci in full score, buy.com
Pagliacci in full score, amazon.co.uk
Pagliacci by Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858-1919) was first performed at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan on May 21, 1892.
The title of the opera is Pagliacci, not I Pagliacci as one often sees.
Pagliacci is often performed in a double bill with Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. It is said that the great success of Cavalleria Rusticana encouraged Leoncavallo to write Pagliacci.
Pagliacci may be translated into English as "clowns." The reference is not to circus clowns, but to strolling clowns who were pantomimists, singers, and comedians. They originally wore costumes made from coarse mattress cloth. Mattresses were stuffed with straw, and the word for straw, paglia, became the word for mattress. From that word the pagliacci took their name.
The opera contains a prologue and two acts. It takes place in Montalto, a village in the province of Calabria, Italy, at a time between 1865 and 1870.
The Italian text of the libretto can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/lib/pagliacci/
Video: Simon Keenlyside - Prologue from Pagliacci, at the Richard Tucker Gala in New York, 2007
DVD (for United States and Canada)
Pagliacci in full score, buy.com
Pagliacci in full score, amazon.co.uk
December 16, 1999
Thanks to the ten people who participated in my survey of the past few days. The results were as follows:
Which opera do you like better, Pagliacci or Cavalleria Rusticana?
4 Pagliacci
4 Cavalleria Rusticana
2 I like both equally
0 I dislike both
Which of the following tenors do you like best in Pagliacci?
0 Jussi Bjoerling
8 Jose Carreras
2 Franco Corelli
0 Placido Domingo
0 Luciano Pavarotti
My e-mail address is: jrpsong@yahoo.com
