Pagliacci
| Work data | |
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| Title: | The Bajazzo |
| Original title: | Pagliacci |
Pagliacci (1892) |
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| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Ruggero Leoncavallo |
| Libretto : | Ruggero Leoncavallo |
| Premiere: | May 22, 1892 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatro Dal Verme , Milan |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ¼ hour |
| Place and time of the action: | Montalto , (Calabria); Assumption of Mary , August 15, 1865 |
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Pagliacci (German title: Der Bajazzo , literally: 'The Bajazzos / Clowns') is a veristic opera in two acts and a prologue by Ruggero Leoncavallo , who also wrote the libretto . The premiere took place in 1892 at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan under the conductor Arturo Toscanini . Pagliacci is Leoncavallo's greatest success and his only work that is still part of the standard operatic repertoire today.
action
prolog
Tonio steps in front of the closed curtain and welcomes the audience with a speech about the differences and similarities between acting and reality. On behalf of the librettist and composer, he prepares the audience for a particularly realistic piece.
first act
Canio moves into the village with his Commedia dell'arte troop and invites the cheering crowd to the evening performance. When the comedians are invited to the pub, Tonio apologizes that he still has to look after the donkey. The teasing of the peasants that he would like to stay alone with the pretty Nedda triggers an outburst of anger in the jealous husband Canio, and he proclaims that, unlike on the stage, in real life he would avenge infidelity with death.
Deeply troubled by these words, Nedda, whose conscience is not at all clear, remains behind and enviously sings about the freedom of birds. Tonio approaches and makes advances, which she mockingly rejects. After she has beaten him to flight with a whip, Nedda's lover Silvio appears, who tries to persuade her to flee with him that night. Tonio watched them both and alerted Canio. Silvio can escape unrecognized at the last second. Threatening with the knife, Canio asks Nedda for the name of the escaped lover, but Beppo intervenes and can initially bring Canio to reason on the grounds that the first guests are shortly before they arrive.
The actors are going to change clothes and the deceived Canio sings a desperate aria (“Vesti la giubba” or “Ridi, pagliaccio / Lache, Bajazzo”).
Second act
Before the performance, Nedda collects the entrance fee and secretly warns Silvio, who is actually present, of Canio's anger.
The performance begins: Left alone by her husband “Bajazzo” (Canio), “Colombina” (Nedda) waits for her lover “Harlequin” (Beppo), but “Taddeo” (Tonio) bursts in and wants to approach her. "Harlequin" chases him away, and the two lovers sit down to eat. Then “Bajazzo” comes home, and when Nedda calls out the same farewell words to the fleeing “Harlequin” as she did to Silvio in the afternoon, Canio / “Bajazzo” loses composure: By starting to mix play and seriousness, he asks Nedda again Name of his rival. The audience is enraptured by this intensity and applaud the "game" that seems so real. Only when Canio stabs the fleeing Nedda with a knife in the back and her last sigh "Silvio!" Is heard does the audience recognize the seriousness of the situation, but too late: The lover is stabbed to death by the maddening husband who speaks to the audience with the words " La commedia è finita ”(“ The comedy is over ”) sends home.
Performance practice
In order to achieve a full-length performance, the two-act opera Pagliacci (duration: approx. 1 ¼ hour) is often combined with the one-act, also veristic opera Cavalleria rusticana (approx. 70 minutes) by Pietro Mascagni ; H. one opera is played before the theater break, the other after the break.
filming
Pagliacci was filmed in 1936 with the title Der Bajazzo , directed by Karl Grune, with Richard Tauber in the title role. In 1954 Radiotelevisione Italiana produced a film adaptation with Franco Corelli as Bajazzo. Herbert von Karajan made a recording in 1968 at the Teatro alla Scala with Jon Vickers and Rajna Kabaiwanska . In 1981 the opera was filmed again under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli with Plácido Domingo and Teresa Stratas in the leading roles.
Modern references
The episode “Die Opernkarten” / “The Opera” of the Seinfeld series (season 4) revolves entirely around Pagliacci . Jerry, Kramer, Elaine and George attend a performance of the opera, Kramer sells his ticket to Elaine's friend and Jerry's stalker "Crazy" Joe Davola .
In the film, To Rome With Love from Woody Allen 's failed opera director Jerry staged (played by Allen) a performance of Pagliacci in which his newly discovered star Giancarlo (played by Fabio Armiliato ), the part of Canio singing contests in a shower stall.
In the short story The beautiful face (The Face of Helen) of Agatha Christie , the protagonist Mr. Satterthwaite visited along with his mysterious friend Harley Quinn a performance of Pagliacci , to be subsequently involved in a similar jealousy-triangle and just a tragic end to prevent.
literature
- I Pagliacci. In: Reclam's Opernlexikon. Digital library volume 52. Philipp Reclam jun., 2001, p. 1890.
Web links
- Pagliacci : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Pagliacci (Ruggero Leoncavallo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Plot and libretto of it at Opera Guide landing page for URL upgrade currently unavailable
Individual evidence
- ^ The Opera on Seinfeld Scripts , accessed June 10, 2015.
- ↑ Nathan Gelgud: Woody Allen's To Rome with Love explores did whole sad clown thing. July 4, 2012 article on Indy Week , accessed June 10, 2015.
- ↑ The Face of Helen on agathachristie.com , accessed June 10, 2015.