Ruggiero Leoncavallo – Pagliacci

Ruggiero Leoncavallo – Pagliacci
mp3, 320 kbps, cd ripping, 70:10 minutes
Covers, info & synopsis included.

About the opera:
Pagliacci (Players, or Clowns) is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell’arte troupe. (Its name is sometimes incorrectly rendered as I Pagliacci with a definite article.). Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on May 21, 1892, conducted by Arturo Toscanini with Adelina Stehle as Nedda, Fiorello Giraud as Canio, Victor Maurel as Tonio, and Mario Ancona as Silvio. Since 1893, it has usually been performed in a double bill with Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, a pairing referred to in the operatic world colloquially as “Cav and Pag”. It is the only one of Leoncavallo’s operas that is still widely staged. Around 1890, when Cavalleria rusticana premiered, Leoncavallo was a little-known composer. After seeing its success, he decided to write a similar opera. It was to be in one act and composed in the verismo style. A lawsuit was brought against him for plagiarism of the libretto.  Leoncavallo’s defense was that the plot of the opera was based on a true story he had witnessed as a child. He claimed that a servant had taken him to a commedia performance in which the events of the opera had actually occurred. He also claimed that his father, who was a judge, had led the criminal investigation, and that he had documents supporting these claims.  None of this evidence has ever appeared. Today most critics agree that the libretto was inspired by an 1887 play of Catulle Mendès entitled La Femme de Tabarin. Leoncavallo was living in Paris at the time of the premiere,  and it is likely that he saw the play.
Pagliacci was an instant success and it remains popular today. It contains one of opera’s most famous and popular arias, Recitar! … Vesti la giubba (literally, To perform! … Put on the costume, but more often known in English as On with the motley). One of Enrico Caruso’s recordings of Vesti la giubba was the first record to sell one million copies. In 1907,  Pagliacci became the first entire opera to be recorded by the Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli. In 1931, it became the first complete opera to be filmed with sound, in a now obscure version starring the tenor Fernando Bertini, in his only film, as Canio, and the San Carlo Opera Company. As a staple of the standard operatic repertoire, it appears as number 14 on Opera America’s list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.

Track List:
01. Prologo – Prologo (2:39)
02. Prologo – Si puo? … Si puo? Signore! Signore! (4:17)
03. Acto I – Escena 1 – Son qua! Son qua! Ritomano! (2:52)
04. Acto I – Escena 1 – Un grande spettacolo a venti tre ore (1:17)
05. Acto I – Escena 1 – Via di lil! (3:32)
06. Acto I – Escena 1 – Escena y Coro de las Campanas: I Zampognari (3:49)
07. Acto I – Escena 2 – Qual fiamma avea guardo! (2:39)
08. Acto I – Escena 2 – Ballatela: Hui! Hui! … Stridono lassu (2:24)
09. Acto I – Escena 2 – Escena y Dueto: Sei la? (4:20)
10. Acto I – Escena 3 – Dueto: Silvio! A quest´ ora (7:28)
11. Acto I – Escena 3 – E allor perche? (3:54)
12. Acto I – Escena 3 – Escena y Final: Cammina Adagio! (1:45)
13. Acto I – Escena 3 – Aiutalo, Signor! (2:44)
14. Acto I – Escena 3 – Airoso: Vesti la giubba (3:22)
15. Intermedio (2:48)
16. Acto II – Escena 1 – Ohé! Ohé! (3:47)
17. Acto II – Escena 1 – Pagliaccio, mio marito (1:24)
18. Acto II – Escena 1 – Serenata: O Columbina (2:08)
19. Acto II – Escena 1 – Escena Comica: E dessa! (3:20)
20. Acto II – Escena 1 – Duto: Arlecchin! (1:41)
21. Acto II – Escena 1 – Escena y Dueto (Final): Versa il filtro (2:30)
22. Acto II – Escena 1 – No! Pagliaccio non son (3:50)
23. Acto II – Escena 1 – Ah! No per mia madre! (1:30)

The Artists:

Links:
Part1Part2