Pagliacci, verismo opera with both words and music by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Based on an actual crime, Pagliacci owes its continuing success in part to the composer’s ability to balance humour, romance, and darkly violent moods. It premiered in Milan on May 21, 1892, with the conductor Arturo Toscanini on the podium. The opera’s most-recognizable aria is the leading tenor’s aria “Vesti la giubba,” which occurs midway through the opera.
Pagliacci was the second of the nine operas by Leoncavallo. In a prologue and two acts that span about an hour’s time in performance, it tells the story of an acting troupe led by a jealous man who is ultimately driven to murder his actress wife and her lover. The jealous husband—the actor Canio—is written as a tenor role. The great tenors of the past century considered the role a challenge, because the character exhibits a wide range of moods, from manic humour to murderous rage. In the famed aria mentioned above, he muses upon the challenge of playing a comedic role while his heart is breaking.