Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" opens at Marion McGraw Hall on Saturday, the 12th of January, at 7:30 p.m. This opera has not been seen in Seattle since 1993, at which time my late husband and I attended and enjoyed it on a double bill with "Cavalleria rusticana." But it's the 1974 production that is still fresh in my mind. The tenor was the Metropolitan Opera star Richard Tucker, renowned for his rendition of the famous aria, "Vesti la giubba" (or "On with the Motley," or "Put on Your Costume"), sung with a sob in his voice, as the poor clown Carnio who has to entertain an unfeeling audience while his heart is breaking.
Tucker's appearance in Seattle was quite an event, especially as it was just a few months before his untimely death in January of 1975. Tucker was one of the great tenors of his time, regarded as the second Caruso. Many a young artist appearing on the opera stage today has been benefited by scholarships endowed in his name.
In the Prologue to "I Pagliacci," Tonio the clown delivers the creed of verismo opera, declaring that "Our author has tried to paint you a slice of life." The two pulsating "slices of life" that burst upon the musical world with such devastating effect in 1890 and 1892, "Cavalleria rusticana" and "I Pagliacci," have become the inseparable twins making up the most popular double bill in opera. Both spearheaded the Italian verismo movement, displaying the earthy emotions of the common man on the operatic stage, and they are still considered the supreme examples of the genre.
Just as the operas are perfectly matched, so too are the careers of their creators, Pietro Mascagni and Ruggiero Leoncavallo. Both men endured hardship and poverty for many years. Mascagni was born a baker's son in Leghorn on Dec. 7, 1863. He had to overcome strong parental opposition to his musical studies, but his talent so impressed the Count de Larderei that the nobleman paid for him to study at the Milan Conservatory under Ponchielli and Saladino. There his spirit chafed against the stifling restrictions, and after a year he took French leave to join a traveling operatic company as conductor. He spent year roving throughout Italy in this way before eventually settling into an obscure backwater in Cerignola, giving piano lessons and running the local music school.
Leoncavallo's obscurity was even more bohemian. He was born the son of a magistrate in Naples on March 8, 1858. His academic career at the Naples Conservatory left him apparently on the threshold of a great career. His first opera, "Tommaso Chatterton," was due to be mounted in Bologna, but at the last minute the impresario absconded with the funds! Virtually penniless, Leoncavallo wandered aimlessly throughout Europe for many years, earning a meager living giving lessons and playing in cafés. This squalid existence took him as far as Cairo, where he gained an important post but had to flee the city disguised as an Arab when an insurrection broke out against the British administration!
His luck appeared to change when he was befriended by the famous baritone Victor Maurel in Paris. The singer accompanied him to Naples and introduced him to the powerful publisher Ricordi. Leoncavallo's plans for a vast Wagner-inspired trilogy about the Italian Renaissance were greeted enthusiastically, and he was commissioned to write the first section "I Medici." Unfortunately, the finished opera proved so elaborate that Ricordi balked at the staging of it, and the composer spent a frustrating three years vainly trying to arrange a production. Finally it was the example of Mascagni that turned the tide for him.
The factor common to the success of both composers was the publishing house of Sonzogno. In 1889 Sonzogno announced a contest for a one-act opera. Mascagni had been planning just such a work, and with the competition as a spur he took 80 days to set a first-rate libretto based on a powerful short play, by Giovanni Verga, about Sicilian village life. He himself was none too impressed with his efforts and would not have submitted them for scrutiny had his wife not surreptitiously dispatched the manuscript. Of the 70 entries, "Cavalleria rusticana" won first prize.
The première was set for May 17, 1890, at the Teatro Constanzi in Rome, and proved to be one of the most overwhelming triumphs in musical history. The response of the vociferous audience was ecstatic. Years later the composer wrote: "I still tremble inwardly at the echo of that tumultuous reception." The opera was quickly produced all over Italy, and soon it had been staged in all the major opera houses of the world. Everywhere its success was phenomenal; almost overnight the obscure music master from Cerignola was famous.
This unprecedented success did not go unnoticed by Leoncavallo. When he could see no chance of ever staging his high-flown trilogy, he resolved to try and win recognition with a short realistic opera in the verismo style of "Cavalleria." He remembered a tragic episode he had witnessed in Calabria as a youth, when a jealous actor had killed his unfaithful wife during an actual performance. "That event made a deep and lasting impression on my mind, especially since my father was the judge at the criminal trial." Within five months he had completed both text and music for "I Pagliacci." With Ricordi as obdurate as ever over "I Medici," Leoncavallo took his manuscript to the rival publisher Sonzogno. The work was accepted and given its première at the Teatro dal Verne, Milan, on May 21, 1892. The young Arturo Toscanini conducted.
Leoncavallo continued to be prolific; in all he composed some 19 operas, also supplying his own librettos. But he was fated to be overshadowed by the infinitely greater talent of Puccini. His "La Bohème" enjoyed considerable success in 1897, but soon became obscured by Puccini's masterpiece on the same subject, and "Zaza," although winning popular favor in 1900, paled by comparison with another opera about a famous singer - "Tosca." He never ceased composing until his death in Montecatini on Aug. 8, 1919, but the spark that had illuminated "I Pagliacci" eluded him. Like Mascagni, his fame firmly rests on one brief brilliant burst of genius.
Seattle Opera is breaking the double-bill tradition by presenting "Pagliacci" on its own, to allow the audience to experience the full pathos of the story. Appearing as Carnio the clown is Antonello Palombi; Nuccia Focile will sing Nedda; Gordon Hawkins, Tonio; Morgan Smith, Silvio; Doug Jones, Beppe; and Karl Marx Reyes and Jonathan Silvia as the two servants. Dean Williamson conducts, with stage direction and set design by Bernard Uzan, the latter along with Claude Girard. Along with costume design is Cynthia Savage and Donald Thomas with control of the lighting, and Jonathan Dean to present the English captions. The sets are provided by the Opera of Montreal as well as costumes by the Seattle Opera. This opera is suitable for the whole family and with that in mind, Seattle Opera is offering a special Family Matinee for the Sunday, Jan. 20, performance. Student tickets are available for $15 per student under the age of 18. Special events for kids include complimentary temporary tattoos, clown noses and clown face painting. Members of the cast will be available in the Hall for photographs with the kids. Immediately after the performance, student ticket holders are invited to the Spafford Lobby for a complimentary sample from Pagliacci Pizza. You can also learn more about the opera by attending "Overtures to the Opera," an informative introduction to each opera that takes place 90 minutes before every performance. Led by a member of the Seattle Opera Education Department, these presentations are a great brush-up for opera fans and an excellent introduction for opera newcomers.
TTFN
Tickets: $25-169
Jan. 20 Student Ticket: $15
(for students under age 18)
Seattle Opera Ticket Office:
206-389-7676 / 800-426-1619
Online orders: www.seattleopera.org