“Svesti La Giubba,” Or, Uncloaking the Genesis of Pagliacci
ANDREAS GIGER “Svesti la giubba” “Svesti la giubba,” or, Uncloaking the Genesis of Pagliacci ANDREAS GIGER Sooner or later, every man invents for himself a story he believes to be his life. The premiere of Pagliacci on 21 May 1892 made The story of the opera has proven to be pro- Ruggero Leoncavallo a famous man overnight foundly moving. Set in two acts as a play within at the age of thirty-five. His first opera, a play, it centers on the itinerant troupe of Chatterton, had languished unperformed in the Canio, his wife Nedda, Tonio, and Peppe, who archives of Luigi Trebbi and Achille Tedeschi have arrived at the Calabrian village of Montalto since 1876, and his second, I Medici, nearly to present their commedia dell’arte. The ac- complete, had been dropped by its publisher tors will play the traditional characters of Ricordi in favor of Puccini’s revised Edgar in Pagliaccio, Columbina, Pulcinella (called 1891. The success of Pagliacci was somewhat Taddeo), and Arlecchino. In act I, Canio discov- unexpected, but it has endured. In 1907, fifteen ers through the treachery of Nedda’s spurned years after the premiere, Pagliacci became the admirer, Tonio, that Nedda has been secretly first opera to be recorded in its entirety, and to meeting with her young lover, Silvio. Over- this day it remains one of the most frequently whelmed with grief and jealousy, Canio sings performed.1 his famous aria “Vesti la giubba” at the close of act I. When the “Commedia” is performed that evening (act II), Canio as Pagliaccio cannot I would like to thank Lorenza Guiot and Francesco Braghetta for their help in obtaining and transcribing some maintain his role in the farce of discovering of the sources used for this article and the anonymous Colombina in a tryst with Arlecchino, and de- reviewers for their helpful feedback.
[Show full text]