Pagliacci: Background on the Opera

Fascinated and irritated by the success in 1890 of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo decided to write and compose a short, realistic opera himself. In the autumn of 1890 he offered the libretto to the Milan publisher Edoardo Sonzogno, who also had Mascagni under contract, and was told to proceed with the composition. As a result, nearly two years after the first performance of Cavalleria Rusticana in Rome, Pagliacci was premiered at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan. The triumphant reception of his opera turned Leoncavallo into an instant celebrity.

Numerous Italian opera houses produced Pagliacci shortly after its premiere; abroad it was first shown in Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, London, New York, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, Mexico City, Basel and Moscow. Cavalleria and Pagliacci, more often than not paired in performance, were the only lasting achievements of their respective composers. Leoncavallo's other fourteen operas and operettas suffered essentially the same fate as Mascagni's - polite interest, but no lasting success. However, Pagliacci was so quintessentially Italian verismo, or naturalistic/realistic style, so exuberant, so dramatic, so poignant and lyrical that it ensured Leoncavallo's place in the great operatic Valhalla.