Pagliacci

Pagliacci, an opera in two acts with a prologue, by Ruggero Leoncavallo, follows in the fortunate wake of Cavalleria rusticana, which had paved the way for the strand of verismo theatre. The libretto, prepared by the composer himself, is based on a crime story, a crime of passion that really happened in Montalto Uffugo, the village in Calabria where the composer lived as a young man. Performed at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on 21 May 1892, under the baton of Toscanini, the opera achieved international fame in a very short time. The popular setting, where violent feelings are rendered by a convulsive vocalism, is the backdrop to the drama of jealousy of Canio, the head of an itinerant company. Thanks to the subtle narrative device of the theatre within the theatre, of real life consumed in the comedy performed on stage, Leoncavallo enhances the dramatic charge of the subject. The demon of jealousy that devours the protagonist, an unhappy man in reality and in fiction, cannot but lead him to the final catastrophe, with the heinous murder of his adulterous wife Nedda and her unfortunate lover.

Cavalleria rusticana

In the competition organised by the publisher Sonzogno in 1888, for a one-act opera, Cavalleria rusticana, a work by Pietro Mascagni, then a twenty-year-old composer of good hopes, took first place. Right from its debut, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 17 May 1890, Mascagni's opera earned a deserved and resounding success, thanks to a highly topical subject, the novella of the same name by Giovanni Verga, reduced to a libretto by Guido Menasci and Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, and music that, from the arias of the protagonists to the duets, from the Prelude to the famous Intermezzo, is pervaded by an unparalleled passion. Cavalleria rusticana is a story of tormented love, burning passions, jealousy and revenge that ends in bloodshed on Easter Day. At a time when Christianity celebrates the triumph of life over death, for the protagonists of the opera there is no place for redemption or forgiveness. Only summary justice, at the point of a knife, will have the power to avenge lost honour and the shame of betrayal.

Staging by Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam
More characters TBD (updated: June 30, 2025)

Poster © Gianluigi Toccafondo

Meeting with the audience - Parlando di opera

Friday, February 20th, 2026, 4.30 pm
"Pagliacci e Cavalleria: tra vita e letteratura"
by Matteo Giuggioli

In collaboration with Il Foyer - Amici della Lirica di Firenze
Free admission until all available seats are taken