Opera "Pagliacci": content, interesting facts, video, history

R. Leoncavallo opera "Pagliacci"

The Clowns is an opera that so fully expressed all the ideas of Italian Verism, that this innovative trend in its pure form no longer produced anything of the kind in strength and beauty. But the main achievement of Payatsev lies not in the field of art theories, but in music: Canio’s arioso is not only its emotional center, but also one of the most famous melodies in the world.

Summary of the Opera Leoncavallo "Clowns"and many interesting facts about this work read on our page.

Summary of the opera "The Hare"

Tonio appears in front of the closed curtain. He talks about the main theme of the drama, which unfolds before the eyes of the audience: under the mask of his character, the actors are forced to hide their true feelings.

A traveling theater arrives in the Italian village, and Canio invites the locals to an evening performance. Peasants willingly agree and invite the troupe to visit the tavern. Canio and Beppo go with them, and Tonio, refusing an invitation, remains to secretly observe Nedda.

Nedda alone dreams of love and is looking forward to meeting Silvio, who lives in this village. Tonio is explained in Nedda’s love, but she laughs at him and besieges him with a whip. Tonio swears revenge. Meanwhile, Silvio comes to Nedda, he asks the girl to leave her husband and run with him. Suddenly, Canio returns, who was called by Tonio. Silvio manages to escape, but the jealous man demands that Nedda name the lover. Only Beppo saves her from hitting the knife. However, it's time to get ready for the play ...

Evening. The show begins, to which Silvio arrives. The plot of the play reminds of a real drama in the life of comedians: Taddeo is in love with Columbine, who has an affair with Harlequin. The date of lovers interrupts Paiac. The farewell words of Columbine addressed to Harlequin remind Canio of real events in his life. Jealousy overshadows the mind, and he kills Nedda, and then Silvio, who rushed to the aid of his beloved.

Interesting Facts

• In the original score of the opera, the composer left many marks for performers. Tito Gobbi wrote that they are accurate and very useful, despite the presence of "strong expressions".
• The Clowns is a short seventy-minute opera, divided into two acts and a prologue. The prologue is considered the manifesto of Verism, the first act tells about real events, and the second is given to theatrical production of comedians.
• Leonkavallo masterfully combined in his work the innovative ideas of Verism with the traditional Italian commedia de l'Arte, whose characters are Columbine, Harlequin and Pierrot (he is also Payac). After the premiere of opera in Russia, the images of the commedia dell'arte became popular in Russian art of the early 20th century.
• Beppo is the only opera character who is not torn by love passion.
• In 1907, The Pagliacci became the first Italian opera, which was completely recorded on a gramophone record. Arioso Canio "Vesti la giubba" performed by Enrico Caruso was recorded three years earlier and for the first time in history it sold out a million copies. Then the singer recorded and the song "Morning", which Leoncavallo created specifically for him.

• Immediately two playwrights, the Spaniard Manuel Tamao-i-Baus and the Frenchman Katyul Mendez, accused the composer of plagiarism of the plot. Mendez even sued him. Leoncavallo had to make an article in the newspaper Figaro, where he explained the circumstances of the appearance of his libretto.
• Leonkavallo wrote 9 more operas and 9 operettas, many were successful during the composer’s life, but over time none became as popular as The Clowns. This work allowed its author and today to enter the twenty most performed opera composers in the world.
• The composer himself wrote the libretto of all his operas and operettas. His legacy also includes piano pieces, songs, choral and symphonic works.
• In the late 1880s, Leoncavallo met Giulio Ricordi, the largest music publisher of Milan, who had exclusive rights to print the scores of Verdi. Ricordi orders the opera to the musician. In 1888, Leoncavallo showed the publisher the notes of the opera Medici, but the latter was dissatisfied with this work. Then the composer concludes a contract with the main rival Ricordi - Sonchono. And less than a year later he wrote "Paiatsev", the publication of which brought an impressive income. His efforts “Medici” still were set in Milan in 1893.
• The composer began studying music at the age of 8, and at 16 he graduated from the Neapolitan Conservatory.
• At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Leoncavallo was considered the main rival of Puccini. This was also embodied in the fact that both composers wrote the operas "La Boheme" to the plot by A. Mourge.
• Bernard Shaw's aphorism that all operatic librettos boil down to one thing: “The tenor wants to sleep with a soprano, but the baritone interferes with it,” to “Pianzas” is absolutely inapplicable. Here the tenor party is given to a jealous husband, and the lover sings with a baritone.

• The final phrase "Comedy is over!", Which, according to tradition, Canio says, does not really correspond to the Leoncavallo plan. The author assumed that the opera would end the same way as it began - Tonio appealed to the public.
• Despite the fact that the plots of operas Richard Wagner far from the principles of verism, the works of the German composer made an incredible impression on the young Leoncavallo. Their influence is noticeable both in his first opera "Chatterton" and in "The Pianzas". The love duet of Nedda and Silvio echoes the second act of "Tristan and Isolde." Its culmination is reminiscent of the Night Hymn of Love by Wagner's work. Even the text has the same meaning: "Forget everything!". The principle of building a musical canvas is also based on Wagner's ideas: the opera is not divided into separate arias, the music flows in a continuous stream, the orchestra is not an accompanist, but a soloist. Vocal parts are extremely devoid of graces and decorations. Music here exists to convey emotions, not for beauty.
• Leoncavallo's opera "Gypsies" (1912) is based on the plot of the poem of the same name by A.S. Pushkin.
• The composer worked a lot with Caruso as a pianist-accompanist. The singer, in turn, noted that Canio is his favorite part.
• The Mariinsky Theater today has in the repertoire of the Payatsev. The opera is performed on its own, without reference to the "Village Honor".
• Opinion of composers - contemporaries of Leoncavallo - about the “Paiats” were divided. ON. Rimsky-Korsakov the opera did not like it, he called its author "a music careerist", and music "infantile." Among the critics of the composer's creativity also belonged C. Debussy. P.I. Chaikovskyon the contrary, he spoke positively about the works of the Verists, noting the beauty and plasticity of the music. And the writer J. Galsworthy put "Clowns" even higher than the operas. Puccini, appreciating the harmonious fit of the plot and music.

What makes "Piatsev" a verista opera?

1. Plot. Verist works of art abound in dramas about love and passion, betrayal and jealousy with a criminal bloody denouement. Verists set their goal to show life as it is, with all its wrong side.
2. Place and time of action. The small village of Montalto in the south of Italy, the exact date - August 15, 1865.
3. Characters Emotional and impulsive, their actions prevail over reflections.
4. Musical tricks. Tessiturnno complex parts with forcing the upper register, the use of non-vocal expressive means (shouting, sobbing), a powerful orchestral finale with the main leitmotif of the opera.

History of creation and productions

The story of "The Pianist" begins with another opera - Rural Honor by Pietro Mascagni. She saw the scene in 1890 and opened the direction of Verism in the Opera House. 34 year old Ruggero Leoncavallo He already had diplomas from the Neapolitan Conservatory in Composition and Piano, and from the University of Bologna in Literature. He traveled half of Europe, working as a pianist in a cafe and a music teacher. Having visited "Country Honor", Leoncavallo was so imbued with the idea of ​​Verism that he decided to write an opera on his own libretto. The plot was found in his childhood memories. Once the case of the murder of jealousy on stage during the performance of a wandering theater was considered in court, where the composer’s father served.

Work began at the end of 1891. Five months later, Pagliacci was ready and immediately presented to the public - on May 21, 1892, at the Dal Verme Theater in Milan. The orchestra was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The opera was a great success, for several years almost all European opera houses showed it, and the part Canio became the hallmark of the most brilliant vocalists. The Russian premiere took place on January 11, 1893 in Moscow, at this performance “Pagliacci” sounded in Russian. The imperial scenes staged an opera in the same year - November 11, the Bolshoi Theater, November 23 - the Mariinsky Theater. Over time, it became a tradition to give "Rural Honor" and "Payatsev" in one evening. On operatic slang such performances are called Cav-Pag (from the Italian "Cavalleria rusticana" and "Pagliacci").

Music "Pagatev" in the movies

Arioso Canio "Vesti la giubba" and his melody were used as a soundtrack for hundreds of films, for example:

• Margarita (2015)
• Shoemaker (2014)
• Roman Adventures (2012)
• Burnt by the Sun (1994)

The plot of the "clowns" in itself is very effective and cinematic. The most famous adaptation of the opera is a 1982 film. Outstanding performers - Placido Domingo, Teresa Strathas, Juan Pons - took part in the production of Franco Zeffirelli.

Among others, we note:

• A 1968 film with John Vickers, Rayna Kabaivanska, Peter Glossop. Production of La Scala, conductor - Herbert von Karajan.
• 1954 film with Franco Corelli, Mathalpha Micheluzzi and Titto Gobbi.
• A 1948 film with Tito Gobbi, Gina Lollobrigida (sings Onelia Fineeski), Afro Poli (sings Galliano Mazini).

To be one of the great operas and remain in history, "Clowns“neither a complicated plot, nor an impressive volume, nor long arias were required. Opera has a much happier fate than its creator, whose hopes to repeat her success were never fulfilled. Only once did Ruggero Leoncavallo be inspired to write a work with such an original idea, emotional openness of music, bright theatricality, which for more than a century have contributed to the exceptional success of his work.